ByBit’s MENA country manager, Derek Dai, quit his PhD to pursue a career in finance, and a few years later, he wound up in crypto. Drawn by the innovative nature of the sector, he followed where he believed the “new generation of finance” was heading, he told us in a sit-down.

In late 2020, he landed in Dubai, and now he heads the Middle East office of Bybit, the second largest crypto exchange by trading volume. The exchange was the first to secure the Securities and Commodities Authority license this past October, and since then, it’s been working on launching products for the local community.

Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. This week, we spoke with Dai (LinkedIn) about his routine, how he maintains communication with his team — even now, in the middle of a regional war — and the different use cases making crypto so popular in the UAE.

EnterpriseAM: This column is called My Morning Routine… and we’re seeing a bit of disruption to our normal routines these days. How are things looking over at Bybit HQ?

Derek Dai: Recent events haven’t really impacted us a lot in terms of our daily operations. The MENA team works in a highly efficient way. All the team members are located in different cities and different regions, so we’re able to move on things quickly. I think this is typical for Web3 companies, where most of our work could be done online.

The only exception is that we have not been meeting much with each other. But I hold daily virtual meetings for my team, around 30 minutes every day, where we go through the market data and the numbers, and we reflect on what is working and what’s not. That way we can really track the progress of each of the projects we’re working on and make adjustments quickly whenever we need to.

E: Why did Bybit move its HQ to Dubai?

DD: The UAE is MENA’s indisputable blockchain and crypto hub. It ranks high in terms of institutional and regulatory readiness, talent, and also sophisticated financial and fiscal infrastructure. I think Dubai is one of the few places where you see regulation, capital, and execution aligned in real time. Most markets don’t work that way. They move in sequence, starting with regulation first, then infrastructure, then adoption.

At the same time, user adoption is already there. We see a lot of sophisticated users in Dubai.

And if you zoom out, Dubai is actually not just serving the UAE, it’s acting as a hub for capital flows across different regions — from MENA to CIS and South Asia.

So much real financial activity happens here. People are earning, sending money, converting between different currencies, and also investing. Another thing that sets Dubai apart is its strong focus on innovation, which is something we also value a lot.

E: What's your main priority right now in 2026, after having just secured your VASP license a few months back?

DD: I joined Bybit in early January. We were the first crypto exchange to get the Securities and Commodities Authority license, so we are now fully regulated and what we're doing is trying to build the fiat infrastructure [for crypto in the UAE]. Now we’re providing regulated fiat services to UAE residents and to those who have bank accounts in the UAE, as well as AED trading pairs.

Many of the people who live in the UAE are expats who need to transfer remittances back to their home country, and there are a lot of limitations that exist within the traditional finance system. So that’s why we’re trying to bridge the gap by integrating crypto into that system to try to solve some of the frictions that traditional finance is facing.

We’re also working on a very exciting project on Islamic accounts, and we just got a new certificate from Crypto Halal for our new AED trading pairs. We’re trying to tell users in the MENA region that we’re really committed to the region and are trying to localize our products and tailor them to the culture here.

We’re also in close discussions with several government entities and partners about tokenization of assets, including gold, sukuk, and real estate.

E: From what you see here in the UAE, what are the biggest use cases right now for users based here?

DD: We have three different user segments living in the UAE. The first and largest is definitely expats, and among those, there’s ones who have a relatively high income, most of whom tend to be professional traders who know a lot about crypto, who like to try things like derivatives. Then there’s crypto professionals, who do a lot of trading and for whom a mix of earning and yield products would be a good combination.

For people who are living here and come from countries like Egypt, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, or Nigeria, there’s high demand for remittances. The problem is that they often don’t have much knowledge of how remittances work in crypto. So, that’s why we’re now spending a lot of time focused on education. Remittances through traditional channels are cost-inefficient, so crypto can actually save a lot of time and money.

The final segment is local Emiratis. I think this group of people tend to be more conservative, and you really need to gain their trust. But for them, earn products [which allow users to earn passive income on digital assets] are definitely a good attraction, especially Halal Earn. Then there’s institutional clients, which we’re also really focused on, because they bring scale and depth. Without this segment, markets would remain very shallow.

Payments are also a very interesting offering in crypto. Bybit Card is very popular among users. We’re pushing this as well because it brings crypto closer to people’s daily lives.

E: What incentivizes people to use crypto cards for daily payments?

DD: For international travelers, there’s a huge incentive. Using a regular credit or debit card in a foreign country comes with an FX charge, which I think is normally around 3%, and there is friction in terms of the exchange rate. For crypto, there’s no such fee. You can spend with no fees in any country where the infrastructure and regulatory environment allow.

Aside from that, we offer incentives in terms of cashback, particularly for subscriptions to online platforms like Spotify and Netflix.

E: Given the recent volatility in crypto markets, what do you do to help clients navigate the current climate and ensure they don’t resort to panic selling?

DD: It really depends on each user and their risk tolerance. My background is actually in marketing with a focus on consumer psychology, so I always tend to place users into different categories. For newer crypto users, you have to understand what their need is.

For people who look for higher yield, it’s relatively straightforward because you just need to make sure they trust Bybit as a platform, so they’re willing to make the deposit and invest in crypto or products like our earn products. If they're a risk-taker, starting with a bit of leverage would be ideal. But if it is a very risk-averse user, we definitely recommend they go with regular spot pairs.

E: So, what’s your morning routine?

DD: My routine is actually quite structured. In the morning, I normally wake up around six. I always start with exercise, because it helps me reset and stay focused. After that, I spend a lot of time going through market data, industry updates, and macro and crypto news.

During the day, it’s mostly about execution and alignment. I try not to get lost in operations. I pay more attention to patterns in user behavior and results, because of my background. In the evening, I normally do a lot of reflection. Normally I would ask myself, “What did we do wrong today? What assumptions didn't really hold? What needs to be addressed immediately?”

I have also started to manage my personal social media accounts, because I want to use them as another channel through which I can talk to crypto users more directly. I try to share some insights and perspectives, so that has become part of my daily routine.

Derek’s recommendations

What he’s reading: I love Gone with the Wind. It’s a classic, and I think there’s a lot of lessons in it, like how there’s never a clear definition of a good or a bad person.

What he’s watching: He’s keeping an eye out for new releases. Recent productions haven’t been all that great, in his view.

His biggest advice: Follow your true interests and be yourself. Don’t just do what your parents want you to do or what’s expected of you.