Bybit, a global crypto exchange with more than 70 million users, has deepened its bet on Malaysia’s digital asset market, leading an $8m Series A in Hata, the only digital asset platform in Malaysia that holds two regulatory licenses.

The Series A round, which also drew capital from family offices focused on Southeast Asian tech and finance, is the second time Bybit has backed the Malaysian company. It previously participated in Hata’s $4.2 million seed round in October 2024.

The capital is earmarked for deepening liquidity on Hata’s platform, growing its user base, and building new digital asset products. For a company that only launched in May 2023, the numbers are worth noting.

Hata crossed 209,000 registered users and processed roughly 1.04 billion Malaysian ringgit (about $263 million) in transaction volume during 2025.

The exchange holds approval from both the Securities Commission Malaysia and the Labuan Financial Services Authority. That combination lets it offer trading and custody under one roof in a country where regulators have been unusually deliberate about who gets to operate.

Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou said the partnership is aimed at accelerating the adoption of digital assets and tokenized real-world assets in Malaysia.

“Malaysia is a strategically important market for Bybit, with one of the most digitally engaged populations in Southeast Asia and strong long-term potential for digital asset adoption,” Zhou stated.

“By combining Hata’s local market leadership with Bybit’s global strengths in technology and product innovation, we hope to accelerate the growth of Malaysia’s digital asset and tokenised real world asset ecosystem,” he added.

Malaysia’s regulatory environment

Malaysia’s regulatory push is providing a timely backdrop for investment. The country launched its Digital Asset Innovation Hub in June 2025, a central bank-supervised sandbox allowing fintech firms to test programmable payments, ringgit-backed stablecoins, and supply chain financing in a controlled environment.

The sandbox has already yielded results. A telecom company owned by the Crown Prince of Johor used the framework to launch RMJDT, now JMYR, a ringgit-backed stablecoin built on the Zetrix blockchain.

Bank Negara Malaysia followed in November 2025 with a three-year tokenization roadmap covering pilots for tokenized deposits and cross-border settlement.

Standard Chartered, CIMB Group, and Maybank are among the institutions participating in sandbox programs tied to those use cases.