Bybit’s Keynote with Ben: Rewriting Success and Reshaping Standards
Bybit’s co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou took center stage at the company’s first-half 2025 "Keynote with Ben" event, outlining the exchange’s priorities for the months ahead under the theme "Rewrite Your Success, Reshape the Standard." The event was a pivotal moment in Bybit’s journey, highlighting the company’s commitment to innovation, security, and regulatory compliance.
Performance Milestones and User Growth
Ben Zhou began by proudly announcing that Bybit has attracted 74 million users in just six years, making one in eight crypto investors worldwide have a Bybit account. This remarkable achievement underscores the company’s success in providing a user-friendly and secure platform for cryptocurrency trading. Bybit’s performance milestones are truly impressive, with 3.5 million transactions per second, 200 billion daily orders (up 75% year-on-year), 99.99% uptime, and sub-10 millisecond response times.
Zhou emphasized that the crypto space has evolved significantly, shifting from speculation to real-world applications. Bybit’s focus on execution is evident in its ability to go offline for upgrades, relying instead on hot patches and rolling releases. This strategic approach has enabled the expansion of its Rapid Price Improvement (RPI) mechanism from spot to perpetual contracts, boosting liquidity by 150% and tightening spreads across both retail and VIP accounts.
The Lazarus Group Hack: A Turning Point in Crisis Management
One of the key talking points at the keynote was the February 2025 Lazarus Group hack. Zhou clarified that the $1.5 billion in Ethereum stolen from a third-party custodian, not from Bybit’s systems. Despite this, the exchange responded publicly and in real-time, releasing on-chain evidence, commissioning nine independent audits, and implementing over 50 new security measures.
The slides presented at the event detailed the recovery process, which included a bounty program offering 10% rewards on returned funds, freezing over 5% of stolen assets, and actively tracking nearly a third of the funds. All of Bybit’s wallet systems have now been audited, demonstrating the company’s commitment to security and transparency.
Regulatory Compliance: A Strategic Priority
Zhou then shifted focus to regulation, announcing that Bybit had secured a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) license, making it one of the few exchanges authorized to operate across all 29 EEA countries. The launch of Bybit.eu brings local onboarding, fiat payment rails, and plans to introduce MiFID-licensed derivatives within six months.
Physical expansion is underway, with new offices in Poland, Portugal, and Spain, with additional locations to follow in France, Germany, Italy, and Romania. In the UAE, the firm has received in-principle approval from Abu Dhabi’s SCA, while in India, FIU registration opens the door to fully regulated operations.
Mantle 2.0: Integrating Institutional-Grade Infrastructure with DeFi
One of the keynote’s major announcements was Mantle 2.0, which aims to integrate institutional-grade infrastructure with decentralized finance (DeFi) in a way that aligns liquidity, infrastructure, and governance. Bybit executives – head of spot and Web3 Emily Bao and co-CEO Helen Liu – will serve as advisers to the upgrade.
Emily Bao took the stage to share Bybit’s 2025 product line, which includes bbSOL: A Solana liquid staking token backed by a centralized exchange with leverage staking offering; TradeGPT: The model has further developed, utilizing on-chain activity, market sentiment, and social signals to deliver AI-powered trading insights; Megadrop: A twist on token launches, letting users subscribe to fixed-term savings, earn points, and claim tokens before listing; Listing Billboard: A post-listing disclosure framework that forces listed projects to publish ongoing performance data; Tokenized Stocks: Apple, Tesla, Coinbase, and more, tradable as spot pairs.
On-Chain Bybit: Integrating DeFi Trading, Liquidity Mining, and Yield Products
Bao also outlined "On-Chain Bybit," aiming to integrate DeFi trading, liquidity mining, and yield products directly within exchange accounts, without the need for a separate wallet setup. This strategic move will further enhance user experience and provide seamless access to various financial tools.
Liquidity and Real-World Payments
Bybit’s head of derivatives Shunyet Jan outlined trading-side upgrades, including expanding RPI to perpetuals, tripling the BTC and ETH order book depth compared to competitors, and launching TradFi. It is a multi-asset platform within the Bybit app that offers gold, indices, commodities, forex, and stock CFDs, all of which are tradable against USDT.
From there, Emre Davide, product marketing lead, presented the payments business. The Bybit Card boasts over 2 million users, with a 68% increase in transaction volume and cashback rates of up to 10%. Visa and Mastercard support is in place, a VIP dual-card option is coming, and a Tomorrowland Brasil tie-in offers exclusive perks.
Bybit’s Private Wealth Management Arm: Over $150 Million in Assets
Bybit’s Private Wealth Management arm oversees more than $150 million in assets for high-net-worth and institutional clients, with bespoke strategies, direct relationship managers, and an AML bot for faster compliance checks. Over 40 in-person VIP events were hosted in the first half of the year.
Conclusion: Rewriting Success and Reshaping Standards
In conclusion, Bybit’s Keynote with Ben has set a new standard for the crypto industry. The company’s commitment to innovation, security, and regulatory compliance is evident in its performance milestones, user growth, crisis management, and strategic priorities. As Bybit continues to rewrite success and reshape standards, it is clear that this exchange will remain at the forefront of the crypto space.
Bybit’s dedication to providing a secure, user-friendly platform for cryptocurrency trading has resonated with investors worldwide. With its focus on execution, regulatory compliance, and innovation, Bybit is well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of the crypto market. As Ben Zhou stated, "From first-time users to institutional investors, crypto should be usable, secure, and powerful enough for everyone. Together, we’re rewriting the rules.