Economic development officials with links to the U.K. government invited Bybit leadership to London this week in what appears to be a bid to emulate the momentum of Dubai, where the cryptocurrency exchange is based, and the rest of the United Arab Emirates.

CEO Ben Zhou said the message from the U.K. is “they are very eager to invite big business to establish bases and create jobs,” and discuss forthcoming pro-crypto regulation.

Bybit was founded by Zhou in 2018, and four years later moved its headquarters to Dubai from his native Singapore. It is ranked the second-largest crypto exchange by CoinGecko, trailing only Binance, which set up in the UAE in 2025.

The arrival of crypto giants like Bybit and Binance acted as a magnet to…