Bybit vs KuCoin: fees, EU licences and which to choose

Bybit vs KuCoin looks like a contest between two large offshore exchanges, but for EU residents the answer is regulatory. On 23 October 2026 Bybit EU GmbH holds a MiCA licence from Austria’s Financial Market Authority and is open for business. KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH also holds an Austrian MiCA licence, but the FMA still prohibits it from commencing operations, and KuCoin’s global platform isn’t MiCA-authorised.

Outside the EU the picture changes. KuCoin’s global platform offers 800+ coins, 0.10% spot fees, futures and copy trading, while Bybit EU’s offer is narrower. Below we compare licences, trading fees with euro examples, products, security and track record, using official pages checked on 23 October 2026. Crypto-assets are volatile and can lose all their value.

Bybit vs KuCoin: the short answer

For EU residents Bybit wins, because it’s the only one of the two that can serve you today. For readers outside the EU and the US, KuCoin offers more coins and lower spot fees, against a heavier regulatory record.

• Choose Bybit if you live in the EU (outside Malta) and want a licensed, operating exchange for spot trading with a flat 0.25% fee.
• Choose KuCoin only if you live outside the EU and the US, want a very large altcoin list and accept its regulatory history.
• Choose neither if you want crypto futures under EU rules: Bybit EU doesn’t offer them, and KuCoin EU isn’t operating.

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

Bybit vs KuCoin: key differences

The key differences are licence status, fees, coin range and track record. The facts table above has the full list; these are the points that change the decision.

• Licence in use: Bybit EU operates under MiCA; KuCoin EU holds a MiCA licence it may not use yet.
• Spot trading fees: 0.25% flat at Bybit EU, 0.10% maker and taker on KuCoin’s global platform.
• Coins: 100+ on Bybit EU, 800+ on KuCoin’s global platform.
• Derivatives: none we could confirm on bybit.eu; futures and copy trading on KuCoin’s global platform, with no EU licence for either.
• Track record: Bybit’s $1.5bn hack in 2025; KuCoin’s 2020 hack and 2025 US guilty plea.

KuCoin vs Bybit: our review scores

In this KuCoin vs Bybit comparison the two exchanges tie on costs, KuCoin edges ahead on products, and Bybit wins clearly on protection and ease for EU readers. Scores run from 1 to 10 and follow our methodology.

KuCoin’s low protection and ease scores reflect that EU residents can’t open an operating, licensed KuCoin account. Bybit’s protection score of 5 reflects its 2025 hack and Dutch fine, despite its MiCA licence.

Can you use Bybit and KuCoin in the EU?

Yes for Bybit, not yet for KuCoin. Since 1 July 2026, when MiCA’s transition period ended, only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto-asset services in the EU, and only Bybit’s EU entity is both authorised and operating.

Bybit EU: licensed and operating

Austria’s Financial Market Authority authorised Bybit EU GmbH on 28 May 2025 for 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, but not Malta. Bybit EU doesn’t accept nationals of the US, Malta, Russia and several other countries.

In August 2026 the FMA also licensed Bybit Payments GmbH as an electronic money institution. Outside the EU, the Bybit group is based in Dubai and holds a virtual asset platform licence from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority.

KuCoin EU: licensed, but not allowed to operate

KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH received a MiCA authorisation from the FMA on 27 November 2025 for custody, exchange, placing and transfer services. It isn’t authorised to operate a trading platform, and its site says so. On 19 February 2026 the FMA banned it from new business over missing anti-money-laundering and sanctions officers. The FMA lifted that ban on 18 May 2026 but said commencement of business operations remains prohibited.

KuCoin EU’s latest update, dated 30 June 2026, said services would resume after final readiness steps and that assets remain withdrawable. We found no later update. KuCoin’s global terms list the Netherlands, France and the US as restricted locations, and the global platform holds no MiCA licence, so EEA residents have no operating KuCoin service to sign up for.

Outside the EU

KuCoin’s global platform is run by Peken Global Limited in the Seychelles and is mainly relevant to readers outside the EEA. Bybit’s global platform also serves many countries outside the EU. Neither serves US residents, and we couldn’t verify either exchange’s current UK onboarding. Check which legal entity would hold your account before you deposit, and never use a VPN or false residence details to get around restrictions.

Bybit vs KuCoin trading fees

KuCoin’s trading fees are lower on paper: 0.10% maker and taker on its global platform, against Bybit EU’s flat 0.25%. For EU readers the KuCoin vs Bybit fee question is academic, because KuCoin can’t serve them; our KuCoin figures are for the global platform.

Spot trading fees and fee discounts

Since 5 October 2026 Bybit EU charges one rate per tier for both maker fees and taker fees: 0.25% below 100,000 USDC of 30-day trading volume, falling to 0.15% for higher-volume non-VIPs and 0.045% at its top Supreme VIP tier. That suits spot traders who don’t want to think about order types.

KuCoin charges 0.10% maker fees and 0.10% taker fees at the entry level for spot trading. Its VIP tiers depend on 30-day volume, account balance or KCS holdings, and it offers fee payment in KCS, its own token. We couldn’t confirm the size of KuCoin’s KCS discount on an official page, so we leave it out of the sums. Holding a token to cut fees also means holding an asset whose price can fall.

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

Here is what a market order costs at entry rates, as trade size × fee rate.

On a €1,000 market order the gap is €1.50. Both trading fees are low next to app-first exchanges; Coinbase Advanced, for comparison, charges 1.20% in taker fees at entry level. Your real trading costs also include the spread and any slippage between the market price you see and your execution price, especially on thinly traded coins.

Futures fees

KuCoin’s futures fees on its global platform are 0.02% maker and 0.06% taker at level LV0. Opening and closing a €1,000 position with market orders costs €0.60 + €0.60 = €1.20. Bybit EU lists no derivatives on its spot-only fee schedule, and we didn’t verify futures fees on Bybit’s global platform, so we can’t give a like-for-like number.

Fiat deposits, bank transfers and withdrawal fees

For fiat access, Bybit EU is clearer on euro deposits. It charges no fee on fiat deposits, though third-party providers such as card processors may, and accepts Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay top-ups in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, among other EEA countries. Its SEPA withdrawal and crypto withdrawal fees appear only in the logged-in withdrawal window.

KuCoin’s euro bank transfer and card fees couldn’t be verified, because its fiat pages load dynamically. For crypto, KuCoin listed 0.00009 BTC to withdraw bitcoin on the Bitcoin network on 23 October 2026. Withdrawal fees move with network conditions, so check the figure before you send.

Spot trading, coins and token listings

KuCoin supports far more coins: about 815 tradable assets in its public API on 23 October 2026, against 108 base coins on Bybit EU’s spot API. If you hunt for small or early-stage tokens, KuCoin’s token listings are the main draw; if your spot trading sticks to major assets such as bitcoin and ether, Bybit EU’s list covers them.

Bybit EU’s spot markets trade against EUR and PLN as fiat currencies, while KuCoin supports EUR on its global platform. A longer list cuts both ways: smaller coins often have thin order books, so a market order can fill well away from the price you expected. Use limit orders on illiquid pairs, and treat newly listed tokens as high risk.

Futures trading, margin and copy trading

KuCoin offers more trading products and trading tools than Bybit EU, but none of them under an EU licence. For EU residents, neither exchange offers derivatives trading.

What Bybit EU offers

Bybit offers EU users spot trading, spot margin, Earn products and a card. Its margin trading has an insurance fund fed by a 2% liquidation fee. The perpetual contracts and other derivatives on Bybit’s global platform aren’t part of the bybit.eu offer; we infer that from its spot-only fee schedule and product pages, as Bybit EU doesn’t state it explicitly.

What KuCoin’s global platform offers

KuCoin’s global platform offers spot, futures, margin, staking and copy trading. Its perpetual futures and other perpetual contracts are aimed at experienced traders and crypto traders outside the EU. KuCoin EU’s authorisation covers none of this derivatives trading, and the global terms restrict several EU countries.

Copy trading and trading bots

KuCoin vs Bybit on copy trading is a one-sided contest for EU readers: neither offers it to them. KuCoin’s global platform offers copy trading; Bybit’s global help centre describes copy trading too, but we found none in Bybit EU’s help centre.

We couldn’t verify the trading bots on either exchange for EU users, so we don’t compare trading bots here. Treat copy trading as high risk: you copy a trader’s losses as well as their gains, past returns don’t predict future ones, and every copied trade pays normal trading fees. Automated trading strategies carry the same risk, because a bot follows its rules even when the market moves against them.

Demo account and practice trading

We couldn’t verify a demo account for EU users on either exchange. If you want to practise, start with small spot trades rather than leverage, and remember that simulated results don’t reflect real slippage.

Security, proof of reserves and track record

Both exchanges have been hacked, and Bybit’s loss is the larger and more recent one. KuCoin has the heavier regulatory record, including a US guilty plea.

Bybit’s record

On 21 February 2025 about $1.5bn in ETH was stolen from Bybit’s wallets; the FBI attributed the theft to North Korea’s “TraderTraitor” activity. Bybit publishes a Merkle-tree proof of reserves with wallet addresses, most recently for 23 September 2026.

Its regulatory record includes a €2.25m DNB fine in 2024 for serving Dutch clients without registration until September 2023, a settlement of about $228m with the FTX estate in 2024, and a ₹9.27 crore fine from India’s Financial Intelligence Unit in 2025.

KuCoin’s record

On 26 September 2020 KuCoin’s hot wallets were compromised in a theft widely reported at about $281 million and attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group; KuCoin said affected user funds would be covered by KuCoin and its insurance fund. It publishes a Merkle-tree proof of reserves page so you can check your balance is included, but no current insurance fund figure.

In January 2025 KuCoin’s operator pleaded guilty in the US to an unlicensed money transmission charge and agreed to pay nearly $300 million. Canada’s FINTRAC imposed a C$19.55 million penalty in July 2025, which KuCoin has appealed, and the FMA’s 2026 new-business ban on KuCoin EU is described above.

What proof of reserves can’t show

A proof of reserves is a snapshot: it shows assets held at one moment, not every liability, and it doesn’t replace a full audit. Neither exchange publishes a cold-storage share. Strong security measures on the exchange’s side won’t help if your login leaks, so turn on two-factor authentication with an authenticator app, use a withdrawal-address allowlist where offered, and keep long-term holdings in a wallet you control.

Which cryptocurrency exchange suits active traders?

For active traders in the EU, neither is ideal: Bybit EU is the only one open to you, but it offers no futures trading. For active traders outside the EU, KuCoin’s global platform has more markets and lower fees, while Bybit’s global platform, which we didn’t review in detail, also offers derivatives.

EU-based active traders who want regulated futures can look at OKX, whose X-Perps are MiFID-regulated futures with up to 10x leverage. Our Bybit vs OKX comparison sets the two licensed exchanges side by side.

KuCoin vs Bybit: who should choose which

Choose by where you live first. For EU readers that settles the KuCoin vs Bybit question; for everyone else, crypto trading style decides it.

Choose Bybit if

• you live in the EU, outside Malta, and want to open an account today;
• you want one flat 0.25% fee on spot trades;
• you want to fund your account by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay with no Bybit deposit fee.

Choose KuCoin if

• you live outside the EU, the US and KuCoin’s other restricted locations;
• you want 800+ coins, including small and early-stage tokens;
• you want copy trading and futures on one platform, and understand the risks;
• you accept a 2025 US guilty plea and a 2020 hack in its history.

Choose neither if

• you live in the Netherlands and want KuCoin specifically: it’s restricted there;
• you want EU-regulated futures or copy trading;
• you want a record without a major hack.

Moving from KuCoin to Bybit EU

If you hold crypto on KuCoin and live in the EU, you can withdraw it to a licensed, operating exchange. KuCoin EU’s 30 June 2026 update said assets remain withdrawable.

Other crypto exchange options

If neither fits, compare KuCoin with other offshore names in Binance vs KuCoin and KuCoin vs Bitget, or weigh Bybit EU against a licensed rival with EU futures in Kraken vs Bybit.

How we built this KuCoin vs Bybit comparison

We’re an editorial team and did no hands-on testing for this comparison: we didn’t open accounts or place trades. On 23 October 2026 we checked both exchanges’ fee pages and public APIs, the FMA’s notices and ESMA’s MiCA register. Figures that change often, such as withdrawal fees, carry that date. Nothing here is financial advice.