Bybit just showed its hand in Europe. In an exclusive CoinDesk interview, founder and CEO Ben Zhou revealed the Bybit super app plan: one regulated application combining crypto trading, bank-style accounts, regulated derivatives, and tokenized stocks. The foundation is an electronic money institution (EMI) license from Austria’s Financial Market Authority, granted on August 4 and made public by Zhou this week. A MiFID license should follow in roughly two months.
For European users, this is bigger than another exchange feature drop. Zhou described the end state himself: something like Revolut, plus everything Bybit already offers, fully regulated.
What Ben Zhou Actually Announced
Three things came out of the interview, and each one is a dated, verifiable fact.
First, Bybit holds an EMI license in Austria. The FMA granted it on August 4, 2026, to Bybit’s payments arm. An EMI license lets a company issue electronic money and run payment services across the EU.
Second, a MiFID license is on the way. Bybit applied through its entity Bybit X GmbH and Zhou expects approval in about two months, so around November 2026. MiFID II authorization covers regulated financial instruments: derivatives, securities, and access to real stocks.
Third, these stack on top of the MiCA license Bybit has held in Austria since May 2025. That one already passports crypto services across all 27 EU member states plus the EEA.
Zhou was refreshingly blunt about why the stack matters. Running on MiCA alone is not profitable, he admitted, because compliance costs are heavy and competitors offer a wider product shelf. Multiple licenses are the price of actually competing in Europe.
What Goes Inside the Bybit Super App
The EMI license unlocks the banking layer. Think personal accounts with real IBANs, salary deposits, bill payments, and local transfers. Your Bybit account starts behaving like the account your employer pays into.
The MiFID layer adds the investment shelf. Regulated futures and options land first, followed by traditional equities. Zhou name-checked holding Apple and Tesla shares next to your crypto in a single account.
Tokenized stocks arrive through a partner rather than in-house. Bybit remains the largest partner of Kraken’s xStocks platform, which mints tokenized versions of US equities. European users already trade these on Bybit today; the new licensing wraps them in a fully compliant package.
Stack all three licenses and you get the pitch Zhou is making: crypto, payments, stocks, and derivatives in one app, with no gray zones. No other MiCA-licensed exchange has publicly committed to that combination yet.
Why This Matters for Airdrop Farmers
Here’s our angle, because nobody covering this story thinks about rewards.
Exchanges spend biggest when they enter new markets or launch new products. Bybit proved this pattern with its EU entity launch, when we listed the Bybit EU deposit rewards campaign paying new users in USDC and BTC for simply funding an account. A super app launch across payments, stocks, and derivatives is a far larger onboarding push than a MiCA entity launch ever was.
Expect campaigns around each milestone: the MiFID approval, the banking features going live, the first regulated derivatives products for EU retail. Every one of those is a fresh excuse for deposit bonuses, trading competitions, and loyalty rewards. We track everything Bybit runs on our Bybit project page, so the moment a super app campaign drops, it will be listed there.
There’s a quieter benefit too. Salary deposits and IBAN accounts mean your reward tokens, your fiat, and your spending money finally live in one regulated place. Cashing out an airdrop stops being a three-platform relay race.
Create your Bybit EU account today and check the reward center for bonuses
The Bigger Picture: Europe Rewards License Stackers
The timing is no accident. Since the MiCA grandfathering window closed on July 1, 2026, Europe has split into two camps. Licensed exchanges are doubling down, while unlicensed ones have been forced out of the market entirely.
Bybit is betting that the winners of this shakeout won’t just be compliant crypto exchanges. They’ll be full financial platforms that happen to include crypto. That’s the same thesis behind Revolut’s $115 billion valuation, approached from the opposite direction.
Whether the bet pays off depends on execution and on how fast the FMA moves on that MiFID application. But the direction of travel is clear, and Bybit is currently ahead of every other MiCA-licensed exchange on the banking layer.
Final Words
Bybit’s super app announcement is the most concrete post-MiCA expansion plan any exchange has put on the table. The EMI license is signed, the MiFID application is filed, and the Revolut comparison came straight from the CEO’s mouth. Around November, we’ll know if the timeline holds.
For airdrop hunters, the takeaway is simple. A major exchange is about to launch an entire product category in Europe, and product launches mean reward campaigns. Keep your KYC current and your alerts on.
FAQ
What is the Bybit super app? It’s Bybit’s planned all-in-one European application combining crypto trading, bank-style accounts with IBANs, regulated derivatives, and tokenized stocks. CEO Ben Zhou announced the plan in September 2026 and compared the end product to Revolut with crypto built in.
What does Bybit’s EMI license allow? The electronic money institution license from Austria’s FMA lets Bybit offer payment services across the EU. In practice that means personal accounts, IBANs, salary deposits, bill payments, and transfers.
When will Bybit receive its MiFID license? Zhou expects approval roughly two months from his September 2026 announcement, so around November 2026. The application runs through Bybit X GmbH and covers regulated derivatives, securities, and stock access.
Can Europeans buy tokenized stocks on Bybit? Yes. Bybit is the largest partner of Kraken’s xStocks platform, which offers tokenized versions of US equities like Apple and Tesla. Once the MiFID license lands, real regulated stock access joins the tokenized versions.
Is Bybit fully regulated in Europe? Bybit holds a MiCA license (crypto services, since May 2025) and an EMI license (payments, since August 2026), both from Austria’s FMA. The MiFID license for traditional financial instruments is pending. Together the three would make it one of the most broadly licensed crypto platforms in the EU.
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