Bybit vs Gemini: fees, licences and who each one serves

Bybit vs Gemini compares two exchanges that now serve almost opposite parts of the world. If you live in the EU, only Bybit can open an account for you: Bybit EU GmbH holds a MiCA licence from Austria’s FMA, while Gemini closed every EEA and UK account on 6 April 2026. If you live in the US, it’s the reverse, because Bybit excludes US persons from both its EU and global platforms.

This Bybit vs Gemini comparison covers licences, trading fees with euro examples, products, risks and track record, based on each exchange’s official pages as checked on 23 October 2026.

Bybit vs Gemini: the short answer

Choose by where you live first, then by cost. For EU residents Bybit wins by default; for US residents Gemini does.

• Choose Bybit if you live in the EU (outside Malta) and want a MiCA-licensed exchange with a flat 0.25% spot fee.
• Choose Gemini if you live in the US, want a New York-regulated custodian and accept entry fees of 0.60% maker and 1.20% taker.
• Look elsewhere if you want EU-regulated futures or a cleaner record: neither offers derivatives to EU residents, and both carry serious incidents.

Read our Bybit review and Gemini review for each exchange on its own.

Bybit vs Gemini at a glance: our scores

Bybit scores higher than Gemini on all four measures in our reviews, mainly because Gemini no longer serves EU readers. Scores run from 1 to 10 and follow our methodology.

Bybit’s main advantage is a flat 0.25% fee; its main risks are the 2025 hack and fewer features and tools than its global platform. Gemini’s advantage for US investors is New York-regulated custody; its catch is the 1.20% entry taker fee.

Who can access Bybit and Gemini

Bybit serves the EU through a licensed local entity, while Gemini serves only the US and Singapore. Neither covers both markets, so the legal entity behind your account decides this Bybit vs Gemini comparison.

Bybit EU: MiCA-licensed in Austria

Bybit EU GmbH received its MiCA authorisation from Austria’s FMA on 28 May 2025, covering custody, exchange of crypto for funds or other crypto, placing and transfer services. The licence is passported across the EEA, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland. Malta is excluded, and Bybit EU doesn’t accept US or Maltese nationals.

Outside the EU, Bybit runs a global platform from Dubai and holds a licence from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority. We couldn’t verify current UK onboarding.

Gemini: US-focused since April 2026

Gemini announced in February 2026 that it would leave the UK, the EU and Australia, cutting up to 200 jobs. Accounts there went withdrawal-only on 5 March 2026 and closed on 6 April 2026; Gemini had already left the Netherlands in November 2023. It continues in the US, where Gemini Trust Company is a limited purpose trust company regulated by the NYDFS, and in Singapore.

Bybit vs Gemini trading fees

On Bybit vs Gemini fees, Bybit EU is cheaper at entry level: one 0.25% rate, against 0.60% maker and 1.20% taker on Gemini’s ActiveTrader order book. Gemini’s schedules are in US dollars, so we apply the percentages to euro amounts for comparison only.

Since 5 October 2026 Bybit EU charges a single rate per tier: 0.25% below 100,000 USDC of 30-day volume, falling to 0.15% for higher-volume non-VIPs. Gemini’s ActiveTrader schedule of 1 September 2026 drops to 0.40%/0.80% from $10,000 of 30-day volume and 0.25%/0.50% from $25,000, so advanced users who trade a lot can close part of the gap.

Worked example: €100 and €1,000 spot trades

On a €1,000 market order, Gemini costs €9.50 more. Its instant and recurring buys skip the order book but add a spread plus a fee that Gemini’s annual report puts at around 1% above the market price, so they don’t help beginner investors save.

Deposits, cards and withdrawals

Bybit EU takes no fee on fiat deposits, though payment providers may, and accepts Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay top-ups; withdrawal costs appear only after you log in. Gemini takes 3.49% on US debit card buys and 2.50% via PayPal, shows a dynamic network fee before each bitcoin transfer, and no longer offers SEPA.

Coins, products and the Gemini credit card

Bybit EU lists more coins, while Gemini offers more products, but only to US users. Bybit EU’s public spot API showed 108 base coins on 23 October 2026, with EUR and PLN; Gemini lists about 65 tradable digital assets, with USD and SGD.

Bybit EU caters to crypto trading in euros: spot, spot margin, Earn and a card. Its margin trading carries a 2% liquidation fee that feeds an insurance fund. The derivatives on Bybit’s global platform aren’t part of the bybit.eu offer, and we couldn’t verify copy trading for EU users.

Gemini caters to US individuals with spot trading, perpetuals from 0.02% maker and 0.07% taker, margin, staking, prediction markets and the Gemini credit card, a US product. Its old Earn programme, which lent users’ crypto to Genesis so they could earn rewards, explains much of its regulatory record below.

Security, custody and track record

Both exchanges carry serious marks, of different kinds. Bybit lost about $1.5bn in ether to hackers; Gemini Earn users were locked out of their assets for about 18 months.

Bybit

On 21 February 2025 about $1.5bn in ETH was stolen from Bybit’s wallets; the FBI attributed the theft to North Korea. In 2024 DNB fined Bybit Fintech €2.25m for serving Dutch clients without registration until September 2023, and Bybit settled the FTX estate’s lawsuit for about $228m. Bybit publishes a Merkle-tree proof of reserves with wallet addresses, most recently for 23 September 2026.

Gemini

Gemini custody uses offline cold storage, hardware security modules and multi-party computation, and Gemini Trust has completed SOC 1 and SOC 2 examinations. We found no proof-of-reserves attestation on its official pages. In November 2022 Genesis, the lending partner behind Gemini Earn, froze withdrawals; users got about $2.2bn back in kind in mid-2024. Gemini paid a $37m NYDFS penalty plus $40m to Earn users, the SEC dismissed its Earn lawsuit on 28 January 2026, and in April 2026 the New York Attorney General sued its prediction-markets arm.

We found no insurance coverage figure for customer holdings on either exchange. Crypto isn’t a bank deposit, so deposit guarantee schemes don’t apply.

Gemini vs Bybit: who should choose which

Where you live decides most of the Gemini vs Bybit question; your trading pattern decides the rest.

• Choose Bybit if you live in the EU (not Malta), buy €100 to €1,000 at a time and want a flat 0.25% fee, topping up by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
• Choose Gemini if you live in the US or Singapore, want a NYDFS-regulated qualified custodian, and trade enough to reach the lower ActiveTrader tiers.
• Look elsewhere if you want EU-regulated futures, more coins or a record without a major hack.

EU readers can compare Kraken vs Bybit or Coinbase vs Bybit. Coinbase offers 400+ assets and serves both the EU and the US. US readers weighing Gemini against Coinbase Advanced, the successor to Coinbase Pro, can read Coinbase vs Gemini; Kraken vs Gemini shows what Kraken Pro charges.

How we built this Bybit vs Gemini comparison

We’re an editorial team, and we didn’t open accounts for this article. On 23 October 2026 we checked both fee schedules, Bybit EU’s spot API, Gemini’s SEC filings and ESMA’s MiCA register. Nothing here is financial advice, and crypto-assets can lose all their value.