Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has said that holding a Markets in Crypto Assets license is not enough for crypto exchanges to become profitable in Europe, warning that additional regulatory authorizations are essential to offer a full range of revenue-generating products. The supporting evidence appears in the source dataset.
Zhou made the remarks in a recent interview, adding that Bybit itself does not expect to break even in Europe for at least two years.
The comments carry weight given Bybit’s scale. As ranked by CoinMarketCap, Bybit is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, yet even that market position has not insulated it from the structural cost pressures of operating under Europe’s current regulatory framework.
Why MiCA Alone Falls Short
Zhou explained that the MiCA framework restricts license holders to basic fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto services.
Derivatives trading and tokenized asset products, both critical to a profitable exchange business, require a MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) license and an Electronic Money Institution authorization on top of the MiCA registration.
“With the current MiCA framework, you can only do fiat-to-crypto, crypto-to-crypto,” Zhou said. “There are many elements of a profitable business you cannot do, so even as a MiCA holder, unless you’re Kraken or Bitpanda or Bitvivo, who are already making money because they have multiple licenses.”
Zhou acknowledged that Bybit can absorb the cost because of its size, framing the European operation as a long-term strategic investment rather than a near-term revenue driver. “We don’t make money under the current MiCA license.
But we’re able to afford it because we’re a big entity,” he said. “I would assume we are probably going to be profitable within two years.”
Consolidation Set to Accelerate After June Deadline
The regulatory clock is now a serious pressure point across the industry. The MiCA grandfathering period closes at the end of June, meaning crypto-asset service providers must secure full MiCA authorization by July 1 to continue operating across the European Economic Area.
That area covers all 27 European Union member states plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
Zhou predicted that the deadline will trigger a visible wave of market consolidation, particularly among smaller and mid-sized firms that lack the capital to pursue multiple overlapping licenses. “There’s going to be market consolidation,” he said.
“That’s why these guys are shutting down. Because even if they know they could afford MiCA, they’re like, ‘I need MiFID and EMI to make money, and I need to make a whole lot of investment in compliance infrastructure to be able to be profitable.'”
The layered licensing burden effectively raises the floor for viability in the European market.
Firms that can only qualify for a MiCA registration but cannot finance the additional authorizations face a narrow path forward, and many are expected to exit rather than absorb compliance costs that outpace their revenue potential.
Zhou said Bybit remains neutral on whether regulators should push for stricter or more centralized oversight of MiCA-regulated firms, a stance that leaves the exchange positioned to adapt to however the framework evolves after the grandfathering window closes.
Not Financial Advice: This article is for informational purposes only. Crypto investments are highly volatile. Always do your own research.
