Bybit in Mexico: pesos in by SPEI, out on a Mastercard

For an English-speaking resident of Mexico, Bybit solves two problems at once. It accepts pesos straight from a Mexican bank by SPEI, and it gives you a Mastercard that spends crypto at any Mexican terminal, from the Oxxo on the corner to a restaurant in Roma Norte. That combination is rare. The catches are a reported daily deposit cap, no local license and no Pi Network.

Who can actually open a Bybit account here

Bybit doesn't serve US residents. If you're an American living in Mexico, what counts is your declared country of residence and the documents you can show, not your passport. Temporary and permanent residents with a Mexican address and a bank account in their own name are the natural fit. Tourists passing through, with only US bank accounts, can't use the peso features at all.

Bybit's verification works in tiers. Basic KYCKnow Your Customer: identity checks required under anti-money-laundering rules. typically asks for a passport or Mexican ID and a selfie; higher tiers can ask for proof of address. Limits for deposits, withdrawals and the card follow your tier and show in the app.

The company behind it

Ben Zhou founded Bybit in 2018, and its main base is Dubai. It began as a derivatives venue and now covers spot trading, P2P, yield products and cards. Local details live on the Bybit Mexico site, in Spanish. In Europe it operates under a MiCA license obtained in Austria.

Bybit is also the exchange behind the largest crypto theft on record. On 21 February 2025 attackers took about USD 1.5 billion in ether from one of its cold walletsWallets kept offline, where exchanges store most customer funds to limit hacking risk.. The FBI attributed the attack to North Korea's Lazarus group, which got in by compromising a developer's machine at Safe Wallet, the multi-signature service Bybit used. Bybit replenished its ETH reserves and customer balances stayed whole. The takeaway isn't to avoid Bybit, but to avoid keeping savings on any exchange. Our wallet guide covers self-custody.

Getting pesos in by SPEI

Bybit announced MXN deposits and withdrawals by SPEI on 11 November 2024, with a zero-fee deposit promotion at launch. You choose between a fixed CLABE assigned permanently to your account, which you can save as a payee, and dynamic single-use details generated for each deposit.

For SPEI, Bybit's guide asks for your full name, RFC or CURP, date and country of birth, so have one of those two IDs ready before you start. The sending account must be in your name. Transfers from a spouse's account, a business account or a friend bounce back, and refunds take 7 to 14 working days. For expats with joint accounts, that rule catches people often.

For how SPEI works with exchanges and why some transfers get held, see our SPEI bank transfer guide.

Fees, worked through in pesos

Here's a MXN 10,000 deposit turned into bitcoin. We use a reference rate of MXN 18.70 per USDT. Bybit's launch announcement doesn't state the current SPEI deposit fee, so treat that line as "check the app".

The 0.10% maker and takerMaker orders rest on the book until someone fills them; taker orders fill immediately against existing ones. spot rate comes from independent comparisons, since Bybit's own fee page wouldn't load for us. Those sources cite a 25% discount when you pay fees in MNT, Bybit's ecosystem token. As usual, the real money is in the spreadThe gap between the rate you're quoted and the market rate. You pay it even when no fee is shown. on the peso conversion, so compare Bybit's USDT price with Bitso's USDT/MXN book first.

Getting pesos out

The November 2024 launch covered withdrawals too: sell to MXN, withdraw to a CLABE in your name. Current fees and timing weren't in the sources we could reach, so read the withdrawal screen. The alternative is the peso P2PPeer-to-peer: you trade directly with another user while the platform holds the crypto in escrow. market, where buyers pay by bank transfer or Mercado Pago depending on the ad. Release crypto only after the money shows in your bank. Our guide to cashing out in Mexico compares the routes.

The Bybit Card: the reason many expats sign up

Bybit says the card debuted in Mexico on 14 July 2025, its third Latin American market after Brazil and Argentina. Mastercard is the network, and Pomelo provides the local BIN, the issuer number printed on the card.

From the launch announcement:

• Physical and virtual. The physical card pays at terminals and withdraws cash at compatible ATMs worldwide; the virtual one goes into your phone wallet.
• No annual fee.
• Spends eight assets: BTC, ETH, XRP, TON, USDT, USDC, MNT and BNB, converted at the moment you pay.
• Launch promo: 10% back on eligible spending for new users after a USD 100 deposit. It was time-limited; check whether anything similar runs now.

What we couldn't confirm officially is the conversion cost. One independent card guide lists 2% cashback and a 2.9% FX charge. If that fee applies to peso purchases, a MXN 1,000 grocery run would cost MXN 29 extra. For someone paid in dollars, that may still beat converting a US debit card at a poor bank rate, but read the card's fee table in the app first. Our crypto card guide compares it with other cards.

A practical tip for cash withdrawals: Mexican ATMs charge their own fee on foreign-issued and non-bank cards, and it appears on the ATM screen before you confirm. In tourist areas such as Cancún, Tulum or Puerto Vallarta, fees vary from one bank's machine to the next, so cancel and try another if the number looks high. Pull larger, less frequent amounts, and decline any offer to convert the withdrawal to dollars, so the charge stays in pesos and the card handles the conversion.

Tax note for residents: every card payment is technically a sale of crypto. If the coin rose since you bought it, that gain is income in Mexico. Our Mexico crypto tax guide explains how it works for residents and non-residents.

Coins: wide, but no Pi

Bybit lists hundreds of coins against USDT, including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and DOGE. Pi Network isn't among them. In February 2025 Ben Zhou publicly refused to list PI, citing a 2023 Chinese police warning; Pi replied that it had no relationship with Bybit. For PI, look at OKX, Bitget or Kraken.

Regulatory footprint in Mexico

Bybit holds no CNBV or Banxico authorization and has no Mexican entity we could find. That's typical: Mexican rules keep banks and licensed fintechs from selling crypto to the public, so foreign exchanges serve Mexicans from abroad. One independent source claims Bybit has SAT reporting obligations from April 2026; we couldn't confirm that. Background is in our guide to crypto legality in Mexico.

Pros and cons

Who Bybit suits

Bybit makes most sense for residents who want to move pesos in without P2P and who want a card that spends crypto in Mexico. It's less suitable for large one-off deposits, for anyone holding PI, or for people who want a peso order book. For that last group, Bitso remains the direct route.

Alternatives

• Bitso: MXN pairs and free SPEI both ways. Weighing it against Binance? Read Bitso vs Binance.
• OKX: peso purchases via a virtual account and a PI/USDT market.
• Kraken: SPEI converted to a USD balance, which suits people who think in dollars.
• Binance: pesos through Medá and the deepest peso P2P market.

Every platform we cover is in the exchange reviews hub.