Bybit has made a significant shift by providing institutional investors with access to fixed income products from PIMCO, a highly regarded bond manager. This offering is available through Bybit's newly established regulated crypto exchange vault, which aims to connect traditional fixed income strategies with the emerging crypto infrastructure familiar to institutional investors.
The vault, operational within Bybit's RWA Earn section, features tokenized real-world asset offerings that include PIMCO's PDO and the CMIGB Fund from CMB International Asset Management. This introduces a streamlined method for institutions to obtain yield without stepping outside the entire crypto ecosystem.
A key feature of this offering is its integration with Bybit’s custody and credit services. This combination ensures that institutions can access a unified platform for both trading and earning yield, simplifying the investment process.
Since its launch in December 2025, the Mantle Vault has quickly attracted $150 million in assets under management by early 2026. Alongside this initiative, Bybit is collaborating with various entities, such as Plume, to further enhance access to institutional fixed income vaults.
Bybit's commitment to regulatory compliance bolsters the integrity of this platform. The exchange successfully obtained a full Virtual Asset Platform Operator license from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority in October 2025 and has also secured MiCA compliance across the European Economic Area.
Bycustody, Bybit’s institutional custody division, currently manages over $5 billion in assets across more than 30 professional asset managers, serving over 2,000 institutions. This figure reflects a notable 100% increase from the previous year, signaling strong growth in institutional interest.
For institutional investors already utilizing Bybit's custody services, this vault offers an excellent opportunity to tap into fixed income investments without the need to engage with traditional prime brokers. However, potential investors need to be aware of the inherent risks associated with exchange-hosted yield products and the associated counterparty exposure. Weighing the advantages of a single-access platform against the risks involved in consolidating trading and yield functions is essential.
The quick influx of $150 million into the Mantle Vault shortly after its launch indicates a willing market for this kind of investment product. The future performance of the fixed income vault will serve as a crucial indicator of whether institutional demand for regulated crypto yield products is a lasting trend or a passing phase.