📅 Oct 04, 2026uzmancoin16 MIN1387 VIEWS24 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
Ben Zhou — one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges’ CEOs from Bitget?
What Ben Zhou said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou discussed Turkey's crypto market, noting it is a top-five market globally for exchanges, driven by high adoption, inflation, and a young population open to new ideas. He highlighted Turkey's unique corridor position between East and West and the new licensing regime, which makes it important for future investment. Zhou acknowledged tough competition from local players like Paribu and BTC Turk, and outlined Bybit's strategy of localization combined with global product strength and liquidity. He predicted that in five years, the line between banks and crypto will blur, with banks getting crypto licenses and exchanges expanding into traditional assets. On Bitcoin's recent 30% rise, Zhou doubted a new bull market due to lack of new technology triggers, citing the rejected Clarity Act. He emphasized AI's importance, saying companies that don't embrace it will become obsolete, and saw crypto as natural currency for agentic payments, though infrastructure is still developing. On tokenization, he argued it solves accessibility and opportunity problems, not technical ones, and noted weekend trading is already possible, with liquidity as the main remaining challenge.
Key takeaways
Turkey is a top-five market globally for Bybit, with high crypto adoption driven by inflation and an open young population.
Bybit plans to invest long-term in Turkey, including its Istanbul office, and seek licenses beyond crypto to expand products.
Zhou predicted no new bull market soon, citing lack of tech innovation and the rejected Clarity Act.
Tokenization is not a technical challenge but an accessibility problem, with US and China holding the most desired assets.
Zhou said 24/7 trading improves liquidity and is beneficial, combining global markets into one place.
And of course, let's talk about Turkey's crypto population. Especially in 2021, the big bull market, Turkish, especially youngsters, have met with crypto. They liked crypto, either the hard way or the easy way, they learned it. How do you see the Turkish crypto market? Because you operate in many markets globally, a lot of countries you have seen. How do you see Turkey? How do you see the Turkish crypto market? Are we crypto friendly in your view? What would you like to say?
I think for sure, Turkey for any global exchange is probably the top five market in the world. We operate in more than 150 countries, and for us, Turkey is definitely the top five. I think the data is the same for everyone. This is why you see global exchanges like Bybit, like Binance, OKX, we're all here. You also have local exchanges, very strong competitors like Paribu, like BTC Turk.
So I think one of the few things that makes Turkey very unique is that it is a very strong emerging economy. Typically, when we see any emerging countries such as Brazil, you know, such as India, you have high crypto adoption. But Turkey is very unique in the sense that crypto adoption, I think, is one of the highest. One of the reasons is because it is sitting in the corridor between the West and the East. So the information travels faster, and I think the youngsters here in Turkey are very open to new ideas. So people are not scared. Second is, wherever we see the country had a bit of inflation problem, crypto adoption goes faster. So with those two combined, I think it makes Turkey very unique. And also with now the regulator regulating Turkey and we are entering into a licensing regime, that makes Turkey extremely important for future investment, like for exchanges like Bybit. You are now in our Istanbul office. We are going to continue to, you know, invest and be here for the long run. Yeah.
So as you said, there's a big competition in Turkey. For years, there were two big crypto companies, you mentioned them. There are global, as you like, global competitors. What difference will Bybit give to its users? What product, what different products can you give to be different from the others or to be high value in this competition?
I think you asked a very critical question. I think the local players are very strong at localization, giving clients local Turkish support, and that's typically where I see international players lack. Where I think international players like Bybit, where we are strong, is product advancement because we have products tested globally for many users. Also, we have global liquidity for many pairs that the local clients need. So whoever comes into Turkey, I think for us, the key is localization: making our local app, local website as good as the local players, making it more intuitive for the local clients. That is the top priority, and give them the best support they need whenever they need to find people. And then at the same time, leverage on what we're good at globally. So I think with those two combinations, that's our strategy to grow here locally. Yeah.
What would you like to say about the banks, the traditional finance? Because in the United States also, for example, a lot of big banks were against crypto for a lot of years. In Turkey also the same. But now we see that some Turkish banks, big banks, they're coming into crypto. What would you like to say about it? Is that a, how can I say, threat for crypto companies or is it good for competition?
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Zhou, B. (2026, October 4). Bitcoin, Bull Market and Turkey with Bybit’s CEO [Interview transcript]. uzmancoin. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2980484/
MLA
Ben Zhou. "Bitcoin, Bull Market and Turkey with Bybit’s CEO." uzmancoin, 4 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2980484/.
BibTeX
@misc{zhou2026_2980484,
author = {Ben Zhou},
title = {Bitcoin, Bull Market and Turkey with Bybit’s CEO},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, uzmancoin. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {oct},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2980484/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
