Bybit, founded in 2018 by Ben Zhou, is the second-largest crypto perpetuals exchange by liquidity and trading volume globally.

Headquartered in Dubai, it serves 60M+ users in 160 regions, providing spot trading, futures, crypto options, staking, and lending across 1,800+ assets.

Bybit holds licenses in UAE, Cyprus, and other tier-1 jurisdictions, secures assets via multi-signature cold storage, and regularly publishes verified Proof of Reserves audits.

Kraken is the most heavily regulated major perpetuals venue and one of the oldest exchanges in crypto, founded in 2011 and now operating under parent Payward at a $20 billion valuation following an $800 million raise and a confidential IPO filing.

Its derivatives platform runs perpetuals at up to 50x leverage with a structure rivals don't match, settling funding hourly rather than every 8 hours and accepting BTC, ETH, and other assets directly as multi-collateral margin.

Regulation is the moat. Kraken holds MiCA authorization through the Central Bank of Ireland, a MiFID derivatives license, and the only full CFTC stack held by a crypto-native firm, making it one of the few venues offering regulated perpetual futures to US traders.

Security rests on a record no major rival shares. The exchange has never suffered a major breach in its history, backs custody with audited Proof of Reserves and a Wyoming-chartered bank, and holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certifications.