3 min read
Bybit has unveiled plans to offer retail bank accounts to its users as soon as they complete Know Your Customer checks.
"My Bank" was unveiled by the crypto exchange's CEO, Ben Zhou, during a keynote speech outlining the company's priorities for 2026.
According to a promotional video played during the presentation, registered users will be given their own international bank account number—otherwise known as an IBAN for short.
This would enable consumers to send and receive funds across any financial institution in multiple fiat currencies, Bybit said, as well as receive their salaries, pay bills and trade digital assets in one place.
“You can actually make a fiat deposit to Bybit directly from your bank account under your own name,” Zhou said during the presentation. “To the bank, they’re simply doing a transfer to your own bank account.”
The CEO said that My Bank was designed to offer an alternative to old-fashioned checking accounts, as some providers impose restrictions on crypto transactions.
He argued that many consumers find it difficult to access an on-ramp into digital assets, and this online-only product could cater to hundreds of millions of people around the world who are unbanked or underbanked.
My Bank will “eliminate a lot of difficulty and challenges you see today,” Zhou said, adding that, “You can even use this to buy a car, to pay for an apartment and things like that, no hassle.”
Bybit is working with a number of banking providers to bring the product to market, which is eyeing a February launch.
While "neobanks" such as Robinhood and Revolut have branched out to digital assets, this would mark one of the first instances of a crypto-native brand beginning to offer traditional financial services.
Figures shared during the keynote suggest that Bybit currently has 82 million users across 181 countries and regions—but the platform currently isn't operational across the U.S. and Canada. Zhou recently told Bloomberg that the platform wants to expand into the Americas, and has a long-term ambition of a public listing on Wall Street.
The launch of My Bank comes almost a year after Bybit confirmed that $1.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency had been stolen in an audacious hack, which has since been linked to state-backed North Korean cybercriminals.
This remains the biggest such attack in the industry's history, with the exchange unknowingly handing over funds to an attacker's wallet after a planned transfer was manipulated. All withdrawals were honored in the aftermath of that incident.
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