Ben Zhou

Ben Zhou is a Chinese-Singaporean entrepreneur who co-founded Bybit in March 2018 alongside several other co-founders, including those with backgrounds in financial technology and derivatives trading. Zhou's pre-crypto background included several years at XM Group, a global retail forex and CFDs broker — experience that gave him direct insight into the mechanics and profitability of leveraged derivatives trading, and that shaped Bybit's initial focus on cryptocurrency perpetual contracts.

Bybit launched in 2018 as a derivatives-focused exchange, differentiating itself from spot-focused competitors with a professional-grade trading interface, low latency matching engine, and a focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures contracts with leverage up to 100x. The derivatives market's profitability — exchanges earn funding rate fees and liquidation fees on leveraged positions in addition to trading commissions — gave Bybit a strong revenue base even during bear markets.

Bybit's growth trajectory was extraordinary: from launching in 2018, the exchange reached 10 million registered users by 2021, 20 million by 2023, and continued expanding aggressively into new markets. Zhou has attributed Bybit's success to its combination of technical reliability (its matching engine's uptime and performance under extreme market conditions), its responsive customer service, and its aggressive product expansion beyond derivatives into spot trading, copy trading, yield products, and NFTs.

The exchange relocated its headquarters from Singapore to Dubai in 2023 — part of a broader trend of major crypto exchanges establishing bases in the UAE, which has positioned itself as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction with clear regulatory frameworks for digital asset businesses. Bybit obtained a Virtual Asset Service Provider licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), giving it a regulated home base for its global operations.

Bybit became one of the most active sponsors in global sports, partnering with Formula 1 teams, football clubs, and esports organisations — a brand strategy that has made it one of the most visible crypto exchange brands globally, particularly among younger demographics.

In February 2025, Bybit suffered what became the largest cryptocurrency hack in history: approximately $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum was stolen from Bybit's cold wallet infrastructure, attributed by US and international investigators to the North Korean Lazarus Group — a state-sponsored cybercrime organisation responsible for a significant portion of all cryptocurrency thefts globally.

Zhou's response to the hack was notable for its transparency and speed: he immediately disclosed the breach publicly via social media, confirmed the full extent of the losses, communicated that all customer funds were backed 1:1 and would not face losses, and arranged emergency liquidity from crypto lending firms and investors to cover the gap. Bybit processed all customer withdrawal requests without restriction during the crisis — a stark contrast to exchanges like FTX and Celsius that halted withdrawals as their insolvencies emerged.

The hack did not collapse Bybit, and Zhou's decisive communication and backstop of customer funds was widely praised as the right model for crisis management in the crypto exchange industry.

Beyond the centralised exchange, Zhou has overseen Bybit's expansion into Web3 infrastructure. Bybit's Web3 wallet and DeFi portal aggregates yield opportunities, token launches (Bybit Launchpad), and on-chain services for users who want to move beyond the centralised exchange environment. The exchange's significant derivatives volume and deep liquidity have made it a benchmark venue for professional traders managing large positions across crypto markets.