FSA Warns of Bybit Operating Unregistered Crypto Services in Japan
- The financial watchdog says Bybit's marketing campaign keeps targeting Japanese investors despite it has not registered.

According to the warning, Bybit has allowed Japanese citizens to register on its platform and use the platform, despite its unregistered status with the FSA.
“To the best of our knowledge, such public reprimand for running an unregistered business has not occurred for a while, so one is to assume that the FSA has witnessed aggressive marketing by Bybit to Japanese investors that goes beyond the common transgressions of presenting their website in Japanese (...) and not blocking Japanese IP addresses,” Norbert Gehrke, Founder and representative Director of tech hub Tokyo FinTech, said in response to the FSA’s warning notice against the crypto exchange.
He even compares the situation with another cryptocurrency exchange firm, Panama-based Deribit, which on the contrary, blocks Japan-based IP addresses from accessing its website. Also, the firm adds a disclaimer on its translated version of the website.
“The site has been translated from English. Any differences created in the translation has no legal effect. In case of any question, please refer to the official English version,” Deribit’s disclaimer says.
Recent Bybit Regulatory Issues
This is not the first regulatory-related tussle that Bybit has faced over the years. The Singapore-based crypto exchange had to suspend its operations for UK-based customers, citing the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s ban on all cryptocurrency derivatives trading.
As Finance Magnates reported, the FCA considers these crypto assets could not be reliably valued by retail investors due to the inherent nature of the underlying assets, market manipulation and Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term.
“This ban reflects how seriously we view the potential harm to retail consumers in these products. Consumer protection is paramount here,” the UK financial watchdog stated at that time.
According to the warning, Bybit has allowed Japanese citizens to register on its platform and use the platform, despite its unregistered status with the FSA.
“To the best of our knowledge, such public reprimand for running an unregistered business has not occurred for a while, so one is to assume that the FSA has witnessed aggressive marketing by Bybit to Japanese investors that goes beyond the common transgressions of presenting their website in Japanese (...) and not blocking Japanese IP addresses,” Norbert Gehrke, Founder and representative Director of tech hub Tokyo FinTech, said in response to the FSA’s warning notice against the crypto exchange.
He even compares the situation with another cryptocurrency exchange firm, Panama-based Deribit, which on the contrary, blocks Japan-based IP addresses from accessing its website. Also, the firm adds a disclaimer on its translated version of the website.
“The site has been translated from English. Any differences created in the translation has no legal effect. In case of any question, please refer to the official English version,” Deribit’s disclaimer says.
Recent Bybit Regulatory Issues
This is not the first regulatory-related tussle that Bybit has faced over the years. The Singapore-based crypto exchange had to suspend its operations for UK-based customers, citing the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s ban on all cryptocurrency derivatives trading.
As Finance Magnates reported, the FCA considers these crypto assets could not be reliably valued by retail investors due to the inherent nature of the underlying assets, market manipulation and Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term.
“This ban reflects how seriously we view the potential harm to retail consumers in these products. Consumer protection is paramount here,” the UK financial watchdog stated at that time.