Bio
Ben Zhou co-founded Bybit in 2018 after working in the foreign-exchange brokerage industry. His early focus was on the experience of using a trading platform: whether orders went through, whether the system remained responsive and whether customers could reach someone when something went wrong. As Bybit expanded, his role grew to include product strategy, international development and leading the company through a major security crisis.
From forex brokerage to cryptocurrency
Before starting Bybit, Zhou worked in the foreign-exchange industry, including managing XM’s Greater China business. That experience gave him a close view of what customers expected from a trading platform.
In an interview about Bybit’s beginnings, he said his interest in cryptocurrency developed around the middle of 2016. He began researching the industry and later created a YouTube channel discussing projects and helping explain developments across Asian and Western markets.
By early 2018, he had moved from following the industry to building a business within it. Zhou and his co-founders launched Bybit with an initial focus on cryptocurrency derivatives.
Building Bybit around the trading experience
Zhou has described order execution and customer support as two of the problems he wanted Bybit to address. In his account, overloaded systems and rejected orders were frustrating users, while exchanges often felt difficult to contact when help was needed.
Those priorities reflected his brokerage background. For a customer trading markets linked to assets such as Bitcoin, the interface is only one part of the experience. Execution, account management and support also shape whether a platform is usable.
Bybit’s early identity grew around derivatives trading. Its subsequent development broadened the business, bringing additional products and services into the same platform.
Leading the response to the 2025 security breach
On February 21, 2025, Bybit suffered a theft of approximately $1.5 billion in digital assets. The incident affected one of its cold wallets holding assets associated with Ethereum. The FBI subsequently attributed the theft to North Korean actors.
Zhou became a central public spokesperson during the response. He posted updates and appeared on a livestream to explain what the company knew and address questions about withdrawals and customer balances.
At the time, he said Bybit remained solvent and could cover the loss. Those statements were company assurances made during the incident; they should not be presented as a permanent guarantee about the platform.
The breach is a significant part of his leadership history. It brought operational security, liquidity and communication into immediate focus, alongside the product and growth decisions more commonly associated with running an exchange.
Expanding beyond the original exchange model
By October 2026, Zhou was describing a broader direction for Bybit. In the company’s October 13 keynote announcement, he outlined an expansion spanning traditional markets, payments and digital assets.
According to Bybit, stock trading for eligible users launched on October 12. The company also described a planned tokenized-stock product being developed with Mantle, with a November launch target. The distinction matters: an announced target is different from a product already available to customers.
Payments are another part of Bybit’s wider offering. Readers interested in that side of the business can explore Bitnxt’s Bybit Card overview, including the product’s regional availability and terms.
These developments show how Zhou’s responsibilities have expanded from building a derivatives venue to overseeing a platform with several different types of financial products.
His current role at Bybit
Zhou remains Bybit’s co-founder and chief executive. His role encompasses the company’s direction and its relationship with customers, partners and the wider industry.
His career connects two related businesses: forex brokerage and cryptocurrency trading. Both involve serving customers who expect systems to work reliably during changing market conditions.
Bybit’s history under his leadership includes expansion as well as a serious security failure. Together, those chapters give a fuller picture of his work than trading-volume rankings or promotional milestones alone.
