ByBit Exchange to Exit French Market on January 8, 2025, Citing Regulatory Hurdles

ByBit users are urged to transfer digital assets before the deadline. Starting Jan 8, 2025, @Bybit_Official will no longer provide withdrawal and custody services to

Second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, ByBit, announced Tuesday that it will be exiting the French market beginning January 8th, 2025, due to regulatory hurdles.

The exchange will temporarily halt withdrawals between January 8th and 16th, 2025, while transferring unclaimed digital assets for ByBit users with matching Coinhouse accounts.

The affected users have been requested to transfer their digital assets to the Coinhouse exchange before the deadline to avoid losing their funds or paying extra fees.

ByBit users are urged to transfer digital assets before the deadline

Starting Jan 8, 2025, @Bybit_Official will no longer provide withdrawal and custody services to nationals or residents of the French Territories ("French Users").

Accounts with 10 USDC or less will be charged a fee of 10 USDC and closed permanently. Those with more than 10 USDC will incur the same fee amount, and then the difference will be forwarded to their corresponding Coinhouse accounts.

Users without verified Coinhouse accounts will be required to open and verify the Coinhouse accounts through the necessary KYC process. All subsequent withdrawals will then be handled through their Coinhouse accounts.

All unclaimed digital assets still held on ByBit after the deadline will be transferred automatically between January 8th and January 16th, 2025, for ByBit users with matching Coinhouse accounts. Withdrawals will be unavailable during this transfer period.

Those with verified accounts will not face extra costs, but unverified users will have to pay a monthly fee of 0.16% of their holdings or 1 USDC – whichever is higher.

ByBit has been under increasing scrutiny from the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers since 2022, and French users have been restricted to ‘Close-Only’ mode since August of this year. The restrictions applied to all products offered by ByBit.

France continues to tighten crypto regulations for exchanges and French users

According to the FSB (Financial Stability Board), the main use cases of crypto assets in France were trading and investment. Stablecoins were mainly used as a medium of exchange for crypto-to-crypto transactions.

However, the use of crypto assets for payments remained limited, as were the direct links between traditional finance and the crypto market.

ByBit’s exit from France highlights the tightening regulatory landscape in the country and Europe. Exchanges are facing increasing scrutiny and pressure to comply with the evolving regulatory frameworks in the French market.

ByBit’s decision underscores the importance of users staying up-to-date on regulatory changes and taking prompt action to secure their digital assets. The exchange is likely to focus on European markets where the path to compliance is clearer as regulators fine-tune their oversight of crypto.

French authorities have made significant progress in overseeing, supervising, and regulating crypto assets, and have managed to bring a large portion of the digital assets market within the regulatory perimeter.