Bybit appoints former VARA General Counsel Peter Loo as chief legal officer

Bybit just hired the person who helped write the rulebook it’s trying to follow. Peter Loo, formerly General Counsel and Head of Sector Development at Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), has been named the exchange’s Chief Legal & Compliance Officer. From regulator to regulated Loo brings more than 25 years of experience spanning cross-jurisdictional finance and digital assets. Before his stint at VARA, he held senior positions at Barclays Capital and Amber Group, giving him a resume that straddles both traditional finance and crypto-native operations. At VARA, Loo played a central role in developing Dubai’s regulatory framework for virtual assets. Now he’ll be applying that regulatory DNA directly to Bybit’s operations. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou expressed confidence in the hire, citing Loo’s “unique insights into regulatory needs and commercial objectives.” Why this matters for Bybit’s global ambitions Bybit ranks as the second-largest exchange in the world by trading volume, with more than 80 million active users and headquarters in Dubai. Bybit secured a provisional Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from VARA back in September 2024. Bringing Loo on board...