Cryptocurrency exchange ByBit announced its plans to leave France, citing mounting regulatory pressure as the reason.
According to the Aug. 1 announcement, ByBit will restrict the accounts of French users starting today. Those accounts will be set to a “close-only” mode and will be barred from opening new positions or making further deposits onto the trading platform. The exchange announced:
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your support and cooperation as we step up our efforts to meet regulatory requirements. We look forward to serving you again in the near future once the appropriate licences allowing us to do so have been secured.
ByBit told its France-based users to close all their open positions across its products and withdraw their assets. Starting on Aug. 13, open positions will be closed automatically by the exchange on the user’s behalf.
Furthermore, ByBit’s card service will also cease operations for French customers. France-based ByBit card users will only have the option to withdraw any remaining funds from their accounts.
France’s regulators attack ByBit
ByBit’s decision follows the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) issuance of a warning in May. The AMF warning notice advised investors against trading on the platform, which was facing increasing scrutiny before its exit from the market due to its lack of regulatory compliance:
BYBIT is not authorised to provide its digital asset services in France. The AMF reserves the right to take legal action to block the platform’s website. The digital asset trading platform BYBIT has been blacklisted by the AMF since 20 May 2022 for non-compliance with current French regulations.
In April, the AMF also issued a similar warning against ByBit competitor Bitget, pointing out that the platform was blacklisted in November 2023. The notice read:
The Financial Markets Authority (AMF) calls on savers to exercise the utmost vigilance regarding investment proposals made to the public residing in France by the digital asset trading platform BITGET. This platform is not authorized to provide its digital asset services in France.
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