[Updated June 18 at 3:03 pm UTC: Updates with statement from Bybit beginning in the fifth paragraph.]
Crypto exchange Bybit has been added to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Investor Alert List, a registry designed to warn consumers about entities that may be wrongly perceived as licensed or regulated by the financial watchdog.
Bybit Fintech Limited and Bybit appeared on the MAS alert list on Wednesday, although the regulator did not provide a specific reason for their inclusion.
Bybit Fintech Limited, the corporate entity behind the exchange, appears on the MAS Investor Alert List website. Source: MAS
According to MAS, the Investor Alert List identifies entities and investment offers that may create the false impression of being licensed, authorized, regulated or registered by the authority, or whose investment offerings may be mistakenly viewed as having received MAS approval.
Based on publicly available information, Bybit is not licensed or regulated by MAS.
“Bybit is aware that Bybit Fintech Limited has been included on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Investor Alert List and is engaging MAS to better understand the basis for this listing,” the company said in a social media post.
Although Bybit was founded by Singaporean entrepreneur Ben Zhou, the exchange does not operate in the city-state. Singapore is listed among the company’s “Service Restricted Countries” on its website, meaning users in the jurisdiction are not permitted to access its services.
“Bybit has consistently engaged openly and constructively with MAS and has been maintaining measures designed to prevent access by Singapore users,” it said in the post.
Related: SBI Holdings targets majority stake in Singapore crypto exchange Coinhako
Singapore maintains strict oversight of crypto sector
Singapore has cemented its position as a leading crypto hub, ranking among the world’s top jurisdictions for decentralized finance and institutional digital asset services in Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Retail crypto adoption, however, ranked significantly lower.
The MAS has continued to take an assertive approach to industry oversight. In May, the regulator revoked the Major Payment Institution license of crypto liquidity provider Bsquared Technology after uncovering what it described as serious regulatory breaches, including weaknesses in risk management and conflict-of-interest policies.
MAS also said the company had provided false or misleading information on multiple occasions, from its initial license application through a subsequent inspection.
Separately, Singapore police charged former Hodlnaut CEO Zhu Juntao in May with six counts of fraud for allegedly misleading customers about the crypto lender’s exposure to the 2022 Terra ecosystem collapse.
Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto lending platform that once served tens of thousands of users, suspended withdrawals in August 2022 following the Terra implosion and was later ordered to liquidate.
The regulator placed Binance.com on its Investor Alert List in 2021, The Straits Times reported at the time. However, a search on Wednesday of the list did not show any mention of Binance among 910 records in the query.
Related: Singapore Gulf Bank adds stablecoin mint and redeem for 24/7 settlement