UAE Becomes Centerstage as Bybit Hosts Institutional Digital-Finance Gala

The event coincides with Bybit becoming the first global exchange to secure the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority’s full Virtual Asset Platform Operator, or VAPO, license-a milestone the company says will strengthen its position as a regulated, institution-ready platform.

The gala reflects a conscious shift in the company's long-term strategy. While Bybit is well-known as a retail-focused exchange serving more than 70 million users globally, its leadership now argues that the next phase of the digital-asset economy will be shaped primarily by banks, asset managers, corporates, and sovereign funds. Yoyee Yang, Head of Business-to-Business at Bybit, frames the moment as an inflection point, saying in the announcement that institutions are not preparing for digital-asset adoption but are actively entering the space today. Her remarks signal that Bybit sees an increased appetite among traditional finance players to engage with digital-asset markets where clear regulatory frameworks exist.

Co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou will discuss how Bybit plans to scale its institutional architecture, further deepen its compliance standards, and support the broader integration of digital assets into global financial markets at the conference. The presentation will underscore the key imperatives of transparent governance, licensing progress, and exchange-level infrastructure enhancements deliberately tailored for the specific institutional risk and operational needs. The company says such regulatory advancements, especially its attainment of the VAPO license, are central to this strategy.

Meanwhile, Bybit's Chief Legal & Compliance Officer Robert Macdonald will deliver a presentation on the UAE's regulatory environment and its function in shaping the future of compliant digital finance. His remarks, according to the release, will talk of how government collaboration, licensing clarity, and progressive oversight in the UAE are constructing a model that could guide development in international regulation. Bybit asserts that the UAE is one among those jurisdictions where public-private cooperation is actively supporting the growth of a regulated digital-asset ecosystem.

The gala itself is supposed to be a networking confluence for a diverse array of global leaders, including senior representatives from the realm of traditional financial firms, policymakers, economic strategists, and experts from across both the digital-asset and fintech landscapes. The exchange describes the event as a venue for candid discussions on digital-asset adoption, regulatory evolution, and the institutional workflows needed to scale digital finance. Bybit also characterizes the gala as the first of a broader series of engagements aimed at fostering collaboration between traditional finance and the digital-asset sector.

Beyond announcing attendance and highlights of the agenda, Bybit underlines the symbolic relevance of hosting the event in Abu Dhabi. According to the company, its vision to become the world's most trusted digital-asset exchange is in close alignment with the UAE's ambition to establish itself as a regulated global hub for financial innovation. Placed in the context of institutional attendance, government participation, and regulatory progress, all this suggests that for Bybit, the gala is not just a celebration but an opportunity to further accelerate institutional involvement in digital assets based on a very transparent and compliance-driven regime.

Bybit closesits announcement with a restatement of the company's vision of scaling up to 100 million users worldwide and expanding further into regulated markets. The gala is positioned as one stop on that path, underlining how the firm perceives institutional participation as the defining feature of the next phase of the digital-asset economy. With policymakers, financial institutions and industry leaders heading to Abu Dhabi, the event reflects a broader shift in how global exchanges are positioning themselves at the crossroads of regulation, technology and institutional adoption.