Is Bybit Legal in India? FIU Status, Penalty and Tax
Yes. Bybit paid a ₹9.27 crore FIU-IND penalty in 2025 and registered, so Indians can use it. What changed, the risks, TDS and 30% tax explained.
Yes, Bybit is legal to use in India. Bybit is registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) as a reporting entity, after FIU-IND fined it ₹9.27 crore on 31 January 2025 for serving Indian users without registering. It was not among the 15 offshore platforms FIU-IND moved to block in September 2026. Legal to use does not mean risk-free, and every gain you make on Bybit is taxed in India.
Key takeaways
- FIU-IND imposed a ₹9.27 crore penalty on Bybit on 31 January 2025 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Bybit then registered and restored Indian access in stages during 2025.
- Bybit is not on FIU-IND's September 2026 list of 15 offshore platforms, nor on its October 2025 list of 25.
- FIU-IND registration is an anti-money-laundering registration. It is not an RBI licence and it does not guarantee your money.
- Bybit's India tax help page says it deducts 1% TDS on sales and conversions, and it has charged 18% GST on its fees since 7 July 2025.
- Profits are taxed at 30% plus 4% cess, and losses cannot be set off against other income or carried forward.
Bybit in India at a glance (1 October 2026)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is Bybit banned in India? | No. Its websites were blocked during the 2025 enforcement, but access returned after it registered. The app came back to Indian app stores in September 2025. |
| Is Bybit FIU-IND registered? | Yes, as a reporting entity since early 2025. |
| Is Bybit RBI approved? | No crypto exchange is. The RBI does not licence crypto exchanges. |
| On FIU-IND's September 2026 list? | No. |
| Does it deduct 1% TDS? | Yes, on spot sales, crypto-to-crypto trades and conversions, according to its India tax help page. |
| GST on fees | 18%, charged since 7 July 2025. |
| How rupees go in and out | Through Bybit's P2P marketplace and third-party payment partners. Check the Buy Crypto screen for what is live today. |
What happened between Bybit and FIU-IND: a timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| March 2023 | Crypto service providers were brought under the PMLA. FIU-IND issued anti-money-laundering guidelines for them on 10 March 2023. |
| 17 October 2023 | FIU-IND issued a circular setting out how crypto service providers, including offshore ones, must register. |
| 12 January 2025 | Bybit restricted services for Indian users while it sought registration. Withdrawals stayed open and derivatives positions went into close-only mode. |
| 31 January 2025 | FIU-IND imposed a ₹9.27 crore penalty on Bybit Fintech Limited under Section 13 of the PMLA. Its order noted that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had blocked Bybit's websites under the IT Act, 2000. |
| Early 2025 | Bybit paid the penalty and registered with FIU-IND as a reporting entity. |
| 25 February 2025 | Trading was restored for verified Indian users, with the app and website following later. |
| 7 July 2025 | Bybit began adding 18% GST to fees for Indian users. That month it also withdrew its card, trading bots and legacy crypto loans for India. |
| 8 September 2025 | Full app access returned on the App Store and Google Play in India, with the website restored soon after. |
| 9 September 2026 | FIU-IND issued non-compliance notices to 15 offshore platforms and asked for their apps and websites to be blocked. Bybit was not one of them. |
Why FIU-IND penalised Bybit
Since March 2023, any business that exchanges, transfers or holds crypto for customers is a "reporting entity" under the PMLA. It must register with FIU-IND, verify customers, keep records and report suspicious transactions. The rule applies to offshore platforms too, even with no office in India.
FIU-IND's order said Bybit kept expanding its services in India without registering, which breached Section 12 of the PMLA and the record-keeping rules made under it. The penalty was imposed on the company. FIU-IND's actions so far have been aimed at platforms, not at people who held accounts on them. For users, the damage was practical: trading froze in January 2025, the websites were blocked, and many people had to scramble to move funds.
Bybit followed the same path as Binance, which paid an ₹18.82 crore penalty in 2024 and then registered. Our guide on whether Binance is legal in India covers that case. The Binance review and our guide on how to trade crypto on Binance from India cover how that platform works for Indians today.
Is Bybit on the September 2026 FIU-IND list?
No. On 9 September 2026 FIU-IND issued notices under Section 13 of the PMLA to 15 offshore platforms: Weex, Blofin, RezorEx, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNOW, SimpleSwap, FixedFloat, WhiteBIT and Guardarian. Bybit was not named. Nor was it among the 25 platforms FIU-IND sent notices to in October 2025, or the nine it named in December 2023.
That fits Bybit's status. Recent rounds have targeted platforms serving Indians without registering, and Bybit registered in 2025. Our report on the 15 platforms FIU-IND moved to block explains what users of those apps should do. OKX is a different case: it never registered and left India instead, as our guide on whether OKX is available in India explains.
What using Bybit from India looks like now
- KYC: you must complete Bybit's identity verification before you can trade.
- TDS: Bybit's India tax help page says it deducts 1% TDS on spot trades (including crypto-to-crypto), conversions, crypto-to-fiat sales and some margin transactions. It says TDS does not apply when you buy crypto with fiat. The 1% TDS guide explains how the credit works.
- GST: 18% GST is added to trading and service fees on spot, margin and derivatives trading, fiat services, crypto withdrawals and staking.
- Products withdrawn for India: in July 2025 Bybit stopped its card, its trading bots (including spot grid and DCA bots) and legacy crypto loans for Indian users.
- Rupees: rupee options run through P2P and payment partners. P2P means paying or receiving money from a stranger's bank account, which carries a real risk of account freezes; read P2P crypto and bank account freeze risks first. Many users instead send USDT to an Indian exchange and sell there, as set out in how to convert USDT to INR.
- Futures: many Indians use Bybit for derivatives. The tax treatment of crypto futures has grey areas, covered in crypto futures trading in India: legal status and tax.
Is Bybit safe for Indian users?
Registration is about money-laundering controls, not about protecting your balance. On 21 February 2025 attackers took about $1.5 billion in ether and staked-ether tokens from one of Bybit's Ethereum cold wallets, the largest crypto theft on record. The US FBI attributed the attack to North Korean hackers. Bybit said it covered the loss from its own resources and restored its reserves within days, and customer withdrawals continued.
That is a better outcome than many exchange failures, but it shows the risk. There is no deposit insurance on crypto in India, and an exchange hack or shutdown can lock funds for months. Keep sensible habits:
- Keep only money you are actively trading on any exchange.
- Turn on app-based two-factor authentication and a withdrawal address whitelist.
- Move long-term holdings to a wallet you control. Self-custody wallets are legal in India; see whether MetaMask is legal in India and whether Trust Wallet is FIU registered.
- Know the plan if a platform fails: what happens to your crypto if an exchange shuts down.
Tax on Bybit profits: a worked example
Bybit being offshore does not change your tax. Suppose you bought bitcoin for ₹1,80,000 and sell it on Bybit for ₹2,00,000:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale value | ₹2,00,000 |
| TDS deducted at 1% of sale value | ₹2,000 |
| Gain (sale minus cost; fees are not deductible) | ₹20,000 |
| Tax at 30% | ₹6,000 |
| Cess at 4% of the tax | ₹240 |
| Total tax | ₹6,240 |
| Still to pay after the ₹2,000 TDS credit | ₹4,240 |
Report each sale in Schedule VDA of your return. A crypto loss cannot be set off against any other income or carried forward to later years, so a bad trade on Bybit does not reduce tax on a good one elsewhere. Before you file, check that TDS deducted on your Bybit trades appears against your PAN in Form 26AS or the AIS. The full rules are in our crypto tax in India guide.
Bybit or an Indian exchange?
Bybit's appeal is its range of derivatives and altcoins. Indian exchanges win on rupee convenience: direct bank deposits and withdrawals, with no need for P2P.
| Platform | FIU-IND status | Rupees to your bank | Our score |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoinDCX | Registered | Direct INR deposits and withdrawals | 8.4/10 (#1) |
| Giottus | Registered | Direct INR deposits and withdrawals | 8.2/10 (#2) |
| CoinSwitch | Registered | Direct INR; no crypto withdrawals | 8.1/10 (#3) |
| Binance | Registered (2024) | P2P only | 7.5/10 (#6) |
| Delta Exchange India | Registered, per the company | INR only; futures and options | 7.2/10 (#8) |
| Bybit | Registered (2025) | P2P and payment partners | Not in our ranking |
If you want an Indian platform, start with our pick of the best crypto app in India or the best futures apps. To move money off Bybit to your bank, follow how to withdraw crypto to a bank account.
How to check any platform's India status yourself
- Look it up on our list of FIU-registered crypto exchanges, which we update when FIU-IND acts.
- Check the platform's own legal or help pages for its FIU-IND registration. Indian exchanges usually state it, as our check on whether CoinDCX is RBI approved shows.
- Search FIU-IND press releases, published through the government's Press Information Bureau, for the platform's name. FIU-IND named nine offshore platforms in December 2023, 25 in October 2025 and 15 in September 2026.
- Check that the app is listed in the Indian Play Store and App Store and that the website opens without a VPN.
- Be wary of decentralised platforms that sit outside the system. Our guide on whether Hyperliquid is legal in India explains the grey areas.
Ignore claims that a platform is "RBI approved"; that approval does not exist for crypto, as explained in our RBI-approved crypto exchange explainer. Crypto itself is legal to hold and trade but is not legal tender, as set out in is cryptocurrency legal in India. If you keep coins in a self-custody wallet and later need rupees, our guide on withdrawing from Trust Wallet to a bank account shows the steps. If you mainly used Bybit to buy altcoins, many are listed on Indian exchanges too; our guide to buying Trust Wallet's TWT token in India shows how that works on a registered app.
FAQ
Is Bybit banned in India?
No. Bybit was blocked and restricted in early 2025 for operating without FIU-IND registration, but it paid a ₹9.27 crore penalty, registered, and restored full app access in September 2025.
Is Bybit FIU registered in India?
Yes. Bybit registered with FIU-IND as a reporting entity in early 2025 and was not among the 15 offshore platforms FIU-IND targeted on 9 September 2026.
Why did FIU-IND fine Bybit?
FIU-IND said Bybit kept serving Indian users without registering as a reporting entity under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. It imposed a ₹9.27 crore penalty on 31 January 2025 under Section 13 of the Act.
Is Bybit RBI approved?
No, and no crypto exchange is, because the RBI does not licence crypto exchanges. The registration that matters for crypto platforms in India is with FIU-IND.
Does Bybit deduct TDS for Indian users?
Yes. Bybit's India tax help page says it deducts 1% TDS on spot trades, conversions and crypto-to-fiat sales, but not when you buy crypto with fiat.
Is my money safe on Bybit?
Registration does not protect your balance. Bybit lost about $1.5 billion in a February 2025 hack and says it covered the loss itself, so keep only trading funds there and hold long-term coins in your own wallet.
This article is AI-assisted, educational and general in nature. It is not financial advice and never a guarantee of profit. Every trade is at your own risk on your own exchange. See our risk disclosure and editorial policy.
