Bybit review 2026: Bybit EU fees, the hack and MiCA licence

Bybit is a crypto exchange founded in 2018, with its group headquarters in Dubai, and EU residents use a separate MiCA-licensed company, Bybit EU GmbH in Vienna. Our verdict: turn here only if you want a low, flat 0.25% spot fee and accept a track record that includes a $1.5bn hack in February 2025 and a Dutch fine.

We checked Bybit EU’s fee announcement, help centre, Austria’s authorisation notice and the ESMA register on 23 October 2026. We have not traded on Bybit ourselves: every fact below comes from official pages or regulator records. Bybit reports more than 80 million users worldwide, but this Bybit review is about the EU service.

Bybit review: the short verdict

Bybit EU is a licensed, low-cost place to buy and sell crypto in the EU, but it is a spot platform, not the derivatives exchange Bybit is known for elsewhere. The main upside is the single 0.25% spot fee; the main downside is the group’s record on security and regulation.

• Main upside: a 0.25% fee on spot trades, so €0.25 on a €100 buy and €2.50 on €1,000.
• Main downside: the February 2025 hack of about $1.5bn and a €2.25m fine from the Dutch central bank in 2024.
• Good fit: crypto traders in the EU who want low spot fees and card top-ups.
• Look elsewhere: if you want crypto futures, withdrawal fees you can see before signing up, or a cleaner record.

What is Bybit EU, and how does it differ from global Bybit?

Bybit EU is the company that serves residents of the European Economic Area at bybit.eu; the global Bybit at bybit.com is a different platform. Bybit EU GmbH is an Austrian company with its own MiCA licence, products and fee schedule, and it serves the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and other EEA countries.

We couldn’t confirm whether EU users can trade derivatives. Bybit EU’s public pages show a spot-only fee schedule, risk disclosures for spot margin and no link to a derivatives product, but we found no explicit statement that derivatives are unavailable. Treat bybit.eu as a spot platform unless Bybit EU tells you otherwise.

Bybit EU is not available to nationals of the US, Malta, Russia and several other countries, or to stateless persons. UK availability is unclear: we found no current source on whether Bybit takes on UK clients.

Is Bybit EU licensed under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation?

Yes. Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) authorised Bybit EU GmbH as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA, the EU’s crypto-assets regulation, on 28 May 2025. The licence covers custody, exchanging crypto for money or other crypto, placing, and transfer services, and it is passported across the EEA, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland, with Malta excluded.

Since 1 July 2026, only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto services in the EU, so this licence is what lets Bybit serve you at all. In August 2026 the FMA also authorised a sister company, Bybit Payments GmbH, as an electronic money institution. You can check Bybit EU’s entry yourself in ESMA’s interim MiCA register.

Bybit trading fees in Europe

Since 5 October 2026, Bybit EU has charged a single 0.25% fee on spot trades, whether your order adds to the order book or fills straight away. That rate applies below 100,000 USDC of 30-day trading volume and falls to 0.15% for higher-volume non-VIP users and 0.045% at the top Supreme VIP level.

The catch is transparency. Bybit EU shows SEPA withdrawal, crypto withdrawal and card purchase fees only inside the logged-in app, so you can’t compare the full cost before you sign up. We count that against Bybit’s costs score. Our Bybit fees page tracks every cost we can verify.

Worked examples: €100 and €1,000

A €100 spot buy on Bybit EU costs €0.25 in trading fees, and a €1,000 buy costs €2.50, before any spread or withdrawal fee. That matches Bitvavo’s entry taker fee and is well below Kraken Pro’s:

A full round trip on Bybit EU: deposit €1,000 (no Bybit EU fee), buy for €2.50 in fees, later sell €1,000 worth for another €2.50, then withdraw. That is €5.00 in trading fees, plus a SEPA withdrawal fee Bybit EU only shows after you log in. If you invest €100 a month, the trading fees come to 12 × €0.25 = €3.00 a year.

Crypto trading on Bybit EU: what you can buy and trade

Bybit EU is a spot crypto platform with a little over 100 coins: its public spot API listed 108 base coins on 23 October 2026 (our count, not an official figure). You can deposit and trade with two fiat currencies, EUR and PLN.

• Spot trading: buy and sell crypto assets with euros or stablecoins.
• Spot margin: trade with borrowed funds. Bybit EU runs an insurance fund for spot margin, fed by a 2% liquidation fee.
• Earn: Bybit EU’s savings and staking products, available after identity verification.
• API access for automated trading.
• Copy trading: it appears in Bybit’s global help centre but not the EU one, so we couldn’t verify it for EU users.

We don’t cover sign-up bonuses or rewards for new users: their terms change often, and we couldn’t verify the current EU offer.

A worked example: you hold €1,000 and borrow another €1,000 to buy €2,000 of a coin. If the price falls 25%, the position is worth €1,500. After repaying the €1,000 loan you have €500 left, half your money, before interest and fees. Read our guide to margin trading before you try it.

Deposits, withdrawals, Apple Pay and the Bybit card

You can fund a Bybit account by SEPA transfer from your bank account or by card and wallet top-up, and Bybit EU charges no fee of its own on fiat deposits. Card and wallet top-ups with Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, among other EEA countries.

To withdraw funds, you use the withdrawal window in the app, which is also the only place Bybit EU shows the SEPA and crypto withdrawal fees. Check the fee there before you confirm, especially for small transactions, where a fixed fee weighs more.

Bybit EU lists a Bybit card among its products. We couldn’t load the EU card terms when we checked, so we don’t cover cashback, fees, or whether a physical card or virtual card is offered. Read the Bybit card terms in the app before you order one.

The Bybit hack of February 2025

On 21 February 2025, attackers stole about $1.5bn in ETH from Bybit’s wallets, and the FBI attributed the theft to North Korea, in activity it calls “TraderTraitor”. The FBI published its attribution in a public service announcement on 26 February 2025.

What it means for you: the coins you leave on any exchange depend on that exchange’s own security. Our sources don’t tell us how Bybit covered the loss or whether Bybit EU clients were affected, so we make no claims about either.

How to limit the risk on any crypto exchange:

• keep only the money you actively trade on the exchange, rather than everything in one account;
• move long-term holdings to a wallet you control yourself;
• use a strong, unique password and two-factor authentication;
• ignore messages that claim to be Bybit support outside the official help centre, a common route for scam and fraud attempts.

Is Bybit safe? Track record and protection

Bybit EU is supervised by the FMA in Austria and publishes proof of reserves, but the Bybit group’s record is mixed: a major hack, fines in the Netherlands and India, and a $228m settlement with the FTX estate. We scored protection 5 out of 10: licensed in the EU, with serious past incidents and fines.

The DNB fine matters most to Dutch readers. It was imposed on Bybit Fintech Limited, the global company, for serving Dutch clients without registration; Bybit EU GmbH is a different company with its own licence.

What stands behind your Bybit account:

• Proof of reserves: a Merkle-tree proof of reserves with published wallet addresses; the latest snapshot is dated 23 September 2026. It shows holdings on one day and is not insurance.
• Identity verification: an ID document and a selfie, required for fiat deposits, Earn products and higher withdrawal limits.
• Customer support: Bybit EU offers 24/7 customer support; you contact it and submit cases and complaints through the help centre.
• No compensation scheme: crypto is not a bank deposit, and in the Netherlands, for example, neither the deposit guarantee nor the investor compensation scheme covers crypto-assets.

How to open a Bybit account: identity verification and first deposit

Opening a Bybit EU account takes a sign-up at bybit.eu, identity verification and a euro deposit. The verification process asks for an ID document and a selfie. Make sure you are on bybit.eu, not bybit.com, so you deal with the MiCA-licensed company.

Which crypto traders Bybit EU suits, and who should look elsewhere

Bybit EU suits crypto traders in the EU who want low, flat spot fees and easy card top-ups, and who accept the group’s history. It suits beginners less well, because spot margin is close at hand and the full fee list is only visible after you sign up.

Bybit EU is a good fit if you:

• live in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium or Ireland and want a flat 0.25% spot fee;
• trade often enough that 0.25% versus 0.80% makes a real difference;
• like to top up with a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Look elsewhere if you:

• want an exchange with a cleaner security and regulatory record;
• want crypto futures under EU rules;
• want to see every withdrawal fee before you sign up;
• want more than about 100 coins.

Bybit alternatives in Europe

If Bybit EU’s track record or product range puts you off, compare it with other exchanges. The first three below are MiCA-licensed:

• Kraken: MiCA-licensed in Ireland, more than 600 assets by our API count, and futures through a CySEC-licensed firm, but 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at the entry tier. See our Kraken vs Bybit comparison.
• Bitvavo: Dutch, licensed by the AFM, 0.15% maker and 0.25% taker at the entry tier and free SEPA withdrawals.
• Bitpanda: Austrian like Bybit EU and MiCA-licensed, with the fee built into the price (a 0.99% premium on bitcoin).
• Binance: has no MiCA licence and has stopped taking on new EU users, so we don’t recommend it to EU residents. See Binance vs Bybit.

The bottom line

Bybit EU gives EU residents a MiCA-licensed spot exchange with a flat 0.25% fee that matches Bitvavo’s entry taker fee. Whether that is enough depends on how much weight you give the 2025 hack and the Dutch fine; if you would rather not take that bet, Kraken and Bitvavo are licensed alternatives. The crypto market is volatile, so only invest money you can afford to lose in full.