mStocks

Bybit launched live stock trading in October and is developing tokenized stocks with Mantle, signaling an accelerating shift by major crypto platforms toward full financial services platforms rather than pure-play exchanges. Institutional investors should track whether this model, combining crypto derivatives, traditional equities, and blockchain-based assets, becomes the dominant exchange architecture or remains a niche differentiator.

• Bybit launched stock trading on October 12 (Monday), offering access to more than 1,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs with USDC settlement and 24/5 trading hours.
• The platform intercepted over 30,000 suspicious withdrawal requests in H1 2026, protecting users from more than $700 million in potential losses through fraud detection.
• Bybit’s TradFi derivatives have generated $180 billion in trading volume since launch, with mStocks, tokenized stocks backed 1:1 by real equities, launching in November on Mantle.

• $100 billion Peak monthly trading volume across Bybit’s CFD contracts since 2022 entry into traditional finance.
• 4 million Bybit Cards issued globally, expanding platform utility beyond trading into everyday payments.
• 600+ Traditional finance products now available on Bybit across equities, ETFs, indices, commodities and FX.

Bybit expanded its financial services platform beyond crypto derivatives this week, launching live equity trading for eligible users and unveiling a collaboration with Mantle to introduce tokenized stocks. The moves, detailed by Co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou at the company’s keynote presentation and first reported by BeInCrypto, mark Bybit’s most aggressive push yet to position itself as a unified platform spanning crypto markets, traditional equities, derivatives, payments and artificial intelligence rather than a narrowly focused exchange.

Bybit launches October stock trading with 1,000+ U.S. equities and 24/5 access

On October 12, Bybit opened stock trading to eligible users, granting access to more than 1,000 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds settled in USDC stablecoin. The offering includes fractional shares and extended hours, pre-market, regular and after-hours sessions, covering 24/5 trading windows.

This marks a decisive move into secondary equity markets four years after Bybit entered traditional finance via contracts for difference (CFDs) in 2022, when it became the largest crypto CFD platform by volume.

The stock launch builds on Bybit’s existing TradFi derivatives suite. Since entering traditional finance markets, the platform has accumulated more than $180 billion in cumulative trading volume across its TradFi perpetuals, recently adding Forex Perps and Perp Options, an industry-first options product layered on top of TradFi perpetuals.

Bybit’s traditional finance offering now spans more than 600 products, including equities, ETFs, indices, commodities and FX pairs, alongside newer derivatives tied to AI computing and commodity markets.

Mantle collaboration launches mStocks in November with AMM liquidity and collateral integration

In parallel, Bybit is developing mStocks in collaboration with Mantle, a Ethereum layer-2 network, with a targeted launch in November. The tokenized stock product is structured to maintain a 1:1 backing ratio with underlying real equities.

Users will be able to convert eligible stocks into mStocks on Bybit with round-the-clock conversion windows, trade them through automated market maker liquidity pools on Mantle, and transfer converted mStocks into Bybit’s Unified Trading Account for use as trading collateral.

The mStocks product extends Bybit’s earlier entry into primary equity markets. In June, the platform launched IPO Express, giving selected users access to initial public offering allocations at offering prices through tokenized security representations.

IPO Express launched with SpaceX access and is designed to bridge the gap between secondary-market trading and selected primary-market opportunities unavailable to retail investors through traditional brokers.

Fraud detection intercepted $700 million in potential losses during first half of 2026

Bybit’s expansion has been accompanied by increased investment in security and compliance infrastructure. In the first half of 2026, the platform intercepted more than 30,000 suspicious withdrawal requests, blocking more than $700 million in potential losses from fraudulent activity.

The company also secured five new regulatory licenses and approvals across the European Union, Cayman Islands, Indonesia, South Africa and El Salvador during 2026, extending its ability to operate across different jurisdictions under local requirements.

Beyond trading, Bybit has grown its payments infrastructure to compete with traditional fintech platforms. Bybit Pay and Bybit Card support both crypto and fiat transfers, merchant payments and everyday spending across more than 5,000 merchants in 15+ countries.

The platform has issued more than 4 million Bybit Cards, embedding financial services beyond trading into consumer spending and bill payments. In September, Bybit launched Bybit AI, a conversational assistant for trading, account management and customer support.

Bybit is all about giving you the speed and scale you need when you Make Your Move. We have brought trading, investing, payments and AI together, and we are continuing to add more markets and more ways to use them.

Ben Zhou, Co-founder and CEO of Bybit

The CCS read. Bybit’s shift reflects a structural arbitrage: crypto platforms already hold regulatory licenses, custody infrastructure and 24/7 trading systems that traditional brokers lack. By layering equities and tokenized securities onto that base, Bybit reduces switching costs for users moving between asset classes. Institutional investors should watch whether this consolidated model captures material wallet share from commission-based brokers, or whether traditional finance regulatory fragmentation forces Bybit to operate separate rail segregation by asset class.

The concrete test arrives in November, when mStocks go live. That launch will reveal whether Bybit can execute seamless 1:1 conversion and AMM liquidity at scale, and whether institutional traders adopt tokenized equities as collateral. Regulators in the EU and Cayman Islands, two of Bybit’s new license jurisdictions, have signaled interest in supervised tokenization; how those frameworks treat cross-asset collateral chains will determine whether mStocks becomes a viable product class or a proof-of-concept confined to crypto-native users.