Crypto exchange Bybit steps up India push with team expansion, user growth drive, crypto card plans

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Bybit, the world’s second largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, is betting big on India market as it plans to expand teams, on board retail and institutional users, navigate regulations and work on offering a crypto debit card, a senior executive told Moneycontrol.

The exchange re-entered India a few weeks back after registering with Financial Intelligence Unit—India (FIU-IND) as a Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider (VDASP).

“India represents a very large market. India is one of our main focuses in the coming months. So, we will expand the team, increase sponsorships, and the overall presence in the country,” Michelle Daura, Head of Regulated Expansion Regions, Bybit told Moneycontrol, in the exchange’s first interview since its recent India registration.

How has the user base grown since the comeback?

A major reason for the growing interest of the global exchanges including Binance, KuCoin, Coinbase and others in India, is its potential for population-scale crypto adoption. According to Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index 2025, India recorded the highest crypto adoption globally for the third consecutive year. United States was second to India in this regards.

Bybit has seen a huge surge in user sign ups in India since its app and website were restarted in September 2025. The exchange has been seeing three time more new sign ups every day, Daura said.

“Users are coming back. Because of the ban that we suffered, we had lost a lot of traffic earlier. But since the moment that we launched back, we saw that those numbers coming back. One of the things that we hear a lot, especially for VIP or bigger clients, is the concerns about like the regulation. So, we're still trying to navigate with them, helping them understand what we're doing,” Daura said.

What was the crypto exchange ban?

In December 2023, around nine offshore exchanges including KuCoin, Binance, OKX, Houbi among others were found to be not registered under FIU-IND and weren’t aligned with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

Following this, the Indian government had ordered to block the URLs of these exchanges in India in January 2024. Even their apps were delisted from the Apple and Google’s app stores.

Team expansions

Bybit currently has a team of four to five employees in India consisting of a country manager, a salesperson and a few in marketing, while a lot of other people have been working in the background such as the exchange’s Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO).

In the coming months, the cryptocurrency exchange will be expanding its team in India, hiring more professionals for front sales and compliance requirements, Daura said.

“We're hiring a lot for the AML (Anti-money laundering) purposes. We are also hiring for the taxations, TDS and all of this,” she added.

Crypto card on the horizon

As the exchange continues to navigate the regulatory concerns of FIU and the Indian government, one of its ambitious plans will be to introduce a “crypto card” in India.

Bybit had started as a crypto derivatives exchange back in 2018. Back then it was the only product that it offered, and Spot trading wasn't even in its plans. But over the past six years, the exchange has grown to became an ecosystem catering to all user needs.

"And one of our key products is a card. So, our crypto card is a way to off ramp your crypto as now a lot of people are getting paid in crypto, tech (industry) is paying crypto,” Daura explained.

She added, “There's this diversification that exists and the crypto card bridges these two worlds -- crypto and the traditional finance. So this is one of the products that we're looking into working with the with the Reserve Bank of India and then with the FIU to see how to make it available. We think this is one of the products that India wants to have.”

But this is still sometime away, as the exchange is currently trying to study the implications of such a product in India, how it could be made compliant as the central bank has been wary of crypto in the country.

The crypto card is essentially like a debit card wherein the user wouldn’t need to have a peer-to-peer network to convert or withdraw INR against crypto. With this, a user could directly go to the merchant and transact in currency.

“You don't need to do worry about the conversion or move it to your bank,” she explained.

On regulatory talks with FIU

Daura emphasised that India’s stance on crypto regulations is improving, as the regulators are a lot more open to conversations and understanding the digital asset better. This is especially true given that the US and Europe have started looking at regulating and mainstreaming the sector.

“As I've been working with a lot of countries for compliance, I think every regulator interprets the regulation or the risk in a different way. I would say that things are getting better with the stances that the US is taking. Also Europe – they already certify a lot of exchanges to be operational in the countries...Here, we are still navigating with FIU, trying to understand what are the concerns they have and then how to implement them,” she said.

She added, “But from the perspective of approach, yes, India’s getting much better. Regulators are willing to work with us, especially with the exchanges that already got licenses. Though in terms of the policies, they're totally different country to country. So, that's where we need to navigate more hand by hand with the FIU.”

How does India’s regulatory stance compare with other markets?

The biggest bottleneck for the crypto exchanges in India has been the lack of support and services from the banks.

When asked what could be done better in terms of regulations in India, Daura highlighted the need to have a “holistic approach.”

“I don't think that India is doing bad at all. At least I see that they're taking a lot of steps towards regulation and adoption of crypto...But I would say that still it's treated as a regulation. It’s not talking about how do we enable the clients? So when we get the FIU approval, it still doesn't unlock the bank,” she said.

“When you go to the UAE or the Europe, the way the regulations are planned takes a 360 degree approach. For instance, if crypto is treated like finance, then you need a bank. If you need a bank, then you need the banking approvals. Then everything has to be interconnected,” Daura said.