- Proceeds to help strengthen liquidity on Hata, develop innovative digital asset products
- Bybit aims to accelerate growth of Malaysia’s digital asset and tokenised real world asset ecosystem
Hata, Malaysia’s only dual-licensed digital asset exchange, announced yesterday, the closing of a US$8 million (RM31.6 million) Series A funding round led by Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, alongside several prominent global family offices.
The fundraise marks the beginning of a deep strategic collaboration between the two companies, one that goes beyond capital and signals a shared commitment to growing Malaysia’s digital asset ecosystem responsibly and at scale.
“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. We see Hata as the right partner to help serve Malaysian investors through a trusted and regulated platform. By combining Hata’s local market leadership with Bybit’s strengths in technology and product innovation, we hope to accelerate the growth of Malaysia’s digital asset and tokenised real world asset ecosystem,” said Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit who founded the company in 2018 in Singapore before relocating it to Dubai in 2022. The exchange claims to serve over 80 million users.
“This partnership with Bybit marks a defining moment for Hata and for Malaysia’s digital asset industry. Bybit’s decision to lead this round and partner with us strategically is a strong validation of our belief that crypto should be built the right way, with proper licensing, rigorous compliance, and an unwavering commitment to investor protection. Together, we will combine Hata’s trusted local platform with Bybit’s global expertise in technology and product innovation to expand what is possible for Malaysian users.” said David Low, CEO of Hata.
The Series A round builds on Bybit’s earlier participation in Hata’s US$4.2 million seed round, deepening a relationship that now extends into strategic collaboration. The round also saw participation from several global family offices with a strong focus on Southeast Asian technology and financial markets. According to David, the term sheet was signed in Oct 2025, but the deal took about six months to complete due to the due diligence taking longer than expected.
Hata will deploy the proceeds across three key areas on its platform, including strengthening its liquidity on its platform, accelerating user growth through its marketing and ecosystem initiatives and jointly developing innovative digital asset products tailored for Malaysians with Bybit.
Since its launch in May 2023 through the end of 2025, Hata has grown into Malaysia’s fastest-growing homegrown digital asset exchange, with over 209,000 users. In 2025 alone, Hata processed RM1.04 billion in transaction volume.
Bybit hit global headlines in Feb 2025 when it suffered a huge US$1.5 billion hack with the FBI identifying the culprits as North Korea’s Lazarus Group/“TraderTraitor”. There has been no updates since on recovery of the stolen assets
Related Articles
Keyword(s) :