Investigación verificada por fuentes: Bybit

What Bybit announced

Bybit published the news on its announcement board at 07:00 UTC on 12 October under the title "Bybit Expands Beyond Crypto With Direct Access to U.S. Stocks & ETFs", filed under its campaign section with a window that runs to 31 October. The board entry carries only Bybit's standard line that products may not be available in every region. The full detail came in a press release distributed through PR Newswire from Dubai the same day.

According to the release, eligible users in permitted jurisdictions who have completed KYC can buy and sell supported U.S. stocks and ETFs using USDC. The key features Bybit lists at launch:

• more than 1,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs, with fractional shares for eligible securities;
• funding directly from the Bybit account in USDC;
• direct economic exposure to the underlying stock, not a derivative or synthetic price;
• crypto and equity positions managed inside the same Bybit account;
• corporate actions including cash dividends, stock dividends and stock splits;
• trading 24 hours a day, five days a week, covering U.S. pre-market, regular and after-hours sessions, subject to product availability;
• no trading commission on eligible purchases and sales.

Cash dividends are converted from U.S. dollars into USDC and credited to the user's Unified Trading Account. Stock dividends and splits are reflected directly in the position. Voting rights are planned for a future phase.

Who actually holds your shares

This is the part that separates the product from most "stocks on a crypto exchange" offers. The release's disclaimer names three layers:

So the user's contract is with Infra Capital, a Mauritius-licensed broker, and the shares sit in custody at Alpaca, a U.S. self-clearing broker-dealer. Bybit's own wording is that users get "an economic interest in the underlying securities". Alpaca's chief executive, Yoshi Yokokawa, is quoted in the release calling the launch a step toward a multi-asset experience for Bybit's global users. Bybit's co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou framed it as part of turning Bybit into what the company calls "The New Financial Platform".

What the release does not say is how the SIPC membership of Alpaca applies to a non-U.S. customer who reaches it through a Mauritius introducing broker, whether shares are held in an omnibus account or individually, or what happens to positions if the introducing broker fails. Read the Bybit Stocks Terms & Conditions and the risk disclosures on those points before moving meaningful money.

How it differs from what Bybit and its rivals already offered

Bybit already gave access to traditional markets in three other ways, according to the same release: an MT5 platform, tokenized equities, and TradFi perpetuals. Our feed of official exchange announcements shows Bybit listing new TradFi perpetuals as recently as 9 October. Those are price contracts: you get exposure to the price with leverage and funding payments, but no share, no dividend in the normal sense and no claim on the company.

The new product sits at the other end. You pay the full price in USDC, you hold an economic interest in a real share at a U.S. custodian, and dividends arrive as cash. It is closer to a normal brokerage account that happens to be funded with a stablecoin.

That puts Bybit in a crowded field. Binance and OKX also offer stock-linked products; we compared what you own in each in our pieces on Binance's bStocks versus TradFi perps and on OKX's unified tokenized stocks. Securitize went a different way with on-chain shares that carry a security entitlement, which we covered in our Securitize explainer. The IMF warned on 11 October that tokenized U.S. stocks trade with more volatility and thinner liquidity than the shares themselves, especially outside U.S. hours; see our summary of the IMF note. Bybit's model sidesteps part of that concern because orders execute against the U.S. market through Alpaca rather than against a separate on-chain pool, but it also means after-hours and pre-market sessions carry the usual thin-liquidity risk of extended-hours trading.

What it costs and what to check

Bybit says eligible stock trades carry zero commission. Zero commission is not zero cost. Before trading, check:

• The spread and execution price in pre-market and after-hours sessions, where U.S. order books are thinner.
• USDC to USD conversion. You fund in USDC and dividends are converted from USD to USDC; the release does not state the rate or any fee on either leg.
• Dividend tax. The release does not say how U.S. withholding tax is applied to dividends for non-U.S. holders or which tax forms are required.
• Eligibility. Bybit does not list the permitted jurisdictions in the release; access depends on where your account is registered and your KYC level.
• Corporate-action limits. The disclaimer warns that some corporate actions may be restricted for now.

Quick answers

Can I buy real U.S. stocks on Bybit? Yes, if you are an eligible user in a permitted jurisdiction and have completed KYC. Bybit says the product gives an economic interest in the underlying securities, held in custody by Alpaca Securities.

What do I pay with? USDC from your Bybit account.

Are there trading fees? Bybit says there is no commission on eligible stock purchases and sales.

Do I get dividends? Cash dividends are converted to USDC and credited to the Unified Trading Account; stock dividends and splits update the position.

Can I vote my shares? Not yet; Bybit says voting will be added later.

When can I trade? 24 hours a day, five days a week, covering U.S. pre-market, regular and after-hours sessions, subject to availability.

How to act on this

If you already keep USDC on an exchange and want plain share exposure without leverage, a product like this removes the step of moving money to a separate broker, but treat it as a brokerage account and read the terms on custody and investor protection first. If you want leveraged exposure instead, use perpetuals, keep leverage low and check the funding rate on our funding board before holding overnight. New Bybit users can register with code 48553; see the Bybit profile for fees and products, and our tokenized stocks versus perpetuals guide for the difference between owning a share and trading its price.

What we could not verify

We could not open Bybit's own announcement page or its Stocks Terms & Conditions from our servers, so the product details above come from Bybit's PR Newswire release and the title, timing and campaign window from Bybit's public announcement feed. We did not verify the list of eligible countries, the spread or conversion costs, how SIPC coverage applies to non-U.S. customers, or the terms of the campaign that runs to 31 October. Partner links may earn NexuAlpha a commission paid by the exchange, at no extra cost to you.