The Block: Bybit to offer crypto options trading to customers

Crypto derivatives company Bybit will start offering options trading to customers, adding to its existing product line of perpetual futures contracts and expiration futures contracts.

Making the announcement on Tuesday, the company has not yet given an exact launch date but it said that Bybit users would be able to trade USDC options and perpetuals through portfolio margin.

“Options is something that our existing clients have long been asking for since there has been no other revolutionary product offered in the market at the moment,” Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, said in the company’s statement.

“We are confident that our state-of-the-art offering will set the bar for the sector and normalize crypto options trading, just like what Robinhood did for stock options.”

Zhou floated the idea of offering options trading as far back as July last year, initially saying the product would be available by the end of 2021.

The company has high hopes for its success in the options trading market. Speaking with media at the Dubai Crypto Expo 2022 last month, Bybit head of communications Igneus Terrenus claimed that the company was focused on getting a 50% share of the crypto options market within the next 18 months.

Crypto derivatives exchange Deribit is the current market leader for crypto options trading.

The news is the latest in a flurry of announcements by Bybit, which last week also said it would enable users to purchase crypto using their credit and debit cards.

Last month it also joined the ranks of companies shifting their headquarters from Singapore to Dubai as the UAE’s new Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law aims to boost the crypto industry in the emirate.

Being welcomed into Dubai comes after a much frostier reception for Bybit elsewhere over the previous year. Its lack of registration in several jurisdictions saw warnings issued against it by financial authorities in the UK and Japan . In June the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada started proceedings against the company as part of a broader provincial-wide crackdown on unregistered crypto exchanges.

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