Most global exchanges reach Georgians through P2P: a stranger sends you lari, you send them USDT, and your bank wonders what happened. WhiteBIT works differently. Its Georgian company is on the National Bank’s register, and its own fee data lists direct lari deposits and withdrawals through TBC Bank and Hashbank. For anyone who wants their crypto money to move like ordinary bank transfers, that is the headline. Here’s what we could confirm, and what WhiteBIT still keeps behind a bot check.
Is WhiteBIT licensed in Georgia?
Yes. WhiteBIT was the first of the big global brands to register with the NBGNBGNational Bank of Georgia — the central bank. It supervises banks and, since 2023, crypto service providers (VASPs)., about six months before Bybit. The register entry reads:
- Legal name: Whitebit Georgia LLC (commercial name “Whitebit”), identification code 405520217
- NBG registration: number 0007-9404, decree no. 174, registered on 11.04.2024
- Director: Teimuraz Shengelia
- Head office: Leonidze street 2 / Tabidze street 1, 5th floor, Tbilisi, with a second office on the 6th floor
- Authorised services: fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto exchange, transfers, safekeeping, running a trading platform and ICOs
The register version dated 23.10.2026 lists 43 active VASPsVASPVirtual Asset Service Provider — a crypto exchange, ATM operator or custodian. In Georgia every VASP must be registered with the National Bank (NBG).. Only two global exchange brands are on it: WhiteBIT and Bybit Georgia. Binance, OKX and KuCoin are not. Since the NBG’s 7 October 2025 warning that unregistered persons may not provide virtual-asset services in Georgia, that distinction carries real weight. The full register is searchable on our licensed crypto exchanges page.
Outside Georgia, WhiteBIT’s European company WB-Shields Innovations GmbH (“WhiteBIT EU”) received MiCA authorisation from Austria’s FMA on 18 June 2026, passportable across the EEA. When we checked, whitebit.eu still showed “Coming Soon”. WhiteBIT does not appear on Dubai’s VARA register.
Direct GEL deposits and withdrawals: TBC Bank and Hashbank
This is WhiteBIT’s real difference in Georgia. Its public fee data, the machine-readable list behind the deposit screens, shows three lari gateways:
| GEL gateway | Deposit range | Withdrawal range | Fixed fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| TBC Bank | 5 – 70,000 GEL | 10 – 60,000 GEL | 0 |
| Hashbank | 1 – 100,000 GEL | 10 – 100,000 GEL | 0 |
| MyProfile | — | 5 – 25,000 GEL | — |
Of the eight global exchanges we compared, WhiteBIT is the only one where we found direct lari bank rails rather than P2P alone. Money comes from your own account and goes back to your own account, with WhiteBIT, an NBG-registered company, on the other side. No stranger’s name appears on your statement. That is much easier to explain if your bank asks about the source of fundsSource of fundsDocuments showing where money came from (salary, sale of property, exchange statements). Georgian banks may ask for them on large crypto-related transfers.; our guide to banks and crypto in Georgia explains why.
Verify your account
Complete WhiteBIT’s identity check (KYCKYCKnow Your Customer: identity checks (passport, selfie, sometimes proof of address) that licensed services must run before you trade.) first. The exact tiers and the limits tied to them aren’t public, so expect the ranges above to depend on your level.
Choose the GEL gateway for your bank
In the deposit section pick GEL and the TBC Bank or Hashbank option. In the public data they appear as “WBGEL TBC Bank” and “WBGEL Hashbank”.
Send lari from an account in your name
Transfer between 5 and 70,000 GEL via TBC, or 1 and 100,000 GEL via Hashbank. The fee data lists no fixed fee; check the final screen for anything your bank adds.
Convert and withdraw the same way
When you sell, withdraw lari back through the same bank: 10 to 60,000 GEL to TBC, 10 to 100,000 GEL to Hashbank.
TBC customers now have two quite different routes into crypto. The first is TBC’s own app, where crypto trading launched in May 2026 with about 30 assets from 1 dollar, executed by Bybit Georgia, and commission-free in the launch phase. TBC hadn’t said whether you can withdraw those coins to your own wallet. The second is the TBC rail into WhiteBIT: a full exchange account with 799 markets and normal crypto withdrawals, funded by an ordinary transfer from the same TBC account. For a one-off 50 lari of Bitcoin, the app is simpler. For anything you want to move, stake elsewhere or keep on a hardware wallet, the exchange route gives you more control. The Bybit Georgia review covers the TBC app in detail.
One gap matters. We found no GEL spot market in WhiteBIT’s list of 799 markets, so lari is not traded against BTC or USDT on the order book. There has to be a conversion step between lari and crypto, but we couldn’t confirm how it works, or what rate and spreadSpreadThe gap between the buy and sell price. A desk that buys USDT at 2.57 GEL and sells at 2.62 GEL earns a 0.05 GEL spread on each coin. it applies. Before moving a large sum, try a small amount and compare the USDT you receive with the NBG dollar rate. Our guide on how to cash out crypto to lari shows how to judge the rate.
Topping up with cash at PayBox terminals
If you’d rather pay cash, PayBox lists WhiteBIT among five exchanges you can buy crypto through at its terminals. The other four are Cryptal, Coinmania.ge, CityPay and Bitanica, all NBG-registered. PayBox has been in Georgia’s payments market since 2007 and reports more than 8,000 terminals and about 350,000 customers a day, a far denser network than the roughly 150 crypto ATMs in the country.
What PayBox doesn’t publish is WhiteBIT’s fee for this route. For comparison, Cryptal charges 1% for lari top-ups via PayBox. Read the terminal’s confirmation screen before inserting notes. The step-by-step process and the full partner list are in our guide to buying crypto with cash.
Cards, SEPA and SWIFT
WhiteBIT’s fee data lists no lari Visa or Mastercard option. Card funding works in dollars or euros, and it isn’t cheap:
| Method | Deposit fee | Withdrawal fee |
|---|---|---|
| Visa/Mastercard, USD | 3.5% (min 0.35, max 140) | 2% + 2 USD |
| Visa/Mastercard, EUR | 3.5% | 2.25% + 2 EUR |
| SEPA, EUR (BCB, Finsei) | Not stated | Not stated |
| SWIFT, USD (BCB) | Not stated | 54 USD, min 100 USD |
Card deposits in dollars are listed up to 4,000 and card withdrawals up to 5,000. We couldn’t confirm whether SEPA and SWIFT are open to Georgian residents. Depositing 1,000 dollars by card costs 35 dollars; the same amount by TBC transfer has no fixed fee in WhiteBIT’s data. Unless you only have a foreign card, the lari rails win clearly. If card buying is your priority, see our guide to buying crypto with a card.
Trading fees and what they look like in lari
WhiteBIT’s market data shows 0.1% maker and takerMaker / taker feeMakers place orders that wait in the book; takers fill existing orders instantly. Takers usually pay slightly more. on every one of its 799 spot markets. On a 1,000 USDT purchase of BTC, that’s 1 USDT. Discounts for holding WhiteBIT’s own WBT token are mentioned in secondary sources, but we couldn’t confirm them.
A realistic route for a TBC customer looks like this: transfer lari from TBC with no fixed fee, convert to USDT at WhiteBIT’s conversion rate (unknown spread), then trade USDT for BTC at 0.1%. The unknown in that chain is the lari conversion, not the trading fee. Withdrawing crypto to your own wallet adds a network feeNetwork feeThe fee paid to the blockchain itself to process a transfer (also called gas). It goes to miners/validators, not to the exchange., which varies by coin and network.
Need Bitcoin today and only have a foreign card?CEX.IO takes Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay. No GEL wallet and no P2P.
Buy BitcoinThe Hashbank connection
Hash Bank is a digital bank licensed by the NBG (licence decision of 3 November 2023), operating with real customers since 20 September 2024. According to a secondary compilation of its tariffs, it offers in-app crypto buying and selling, remote onboarding for foreigners with a passport, and a Visa card with 0.5% Bitcoin cashback. The same source reports that Hash Bank is linked to WhiteBIT’s founder. We could not confirm this from either company.
In practice, Hashbank gives WhiteBIT users the widest limits: deposits from 1 GEL and withdrawals up to 100,000 GEL. If you’re new to Georgia and don’t yet have a TBC account, Hashbank’s remote onboarding may be the quickest route to a lari rail. That claim comes from the secondary source too, so check with the bank. Our crypto apps guide covers Hash Bank’s own crypto features.
Who WhiteBIT suits in Georgia, and who should look elsewhere
WhiteBIT fits you if:
- You bank with TBC or Hashbank and want lari to move between your account and the exchange as plain transfers, with no P2P counterparties on your statement.
- You’re selling a larger amount, for a flat deposit or a car for example, and want a cleaner paper trail. WhiteBIT’s data lists Hashbank withdrawals of up to 100,000 GEL. See buying property with crypto for the compliant route.
- You prefer cash and don’t live near a crypto ATM: PayBox’s 8,000+ terminals reach much further than the ATM networks do.
- You want an NBG-registered exchange whose European arm also holds a MiCA licence.
Look elsewhere if:
- You bank only with Bank of Georgia, Liberty or Credo. WhiteBIT’s direct rails cover TBC and Hashbank; for other banks, P2P on Bybit or Binance has many more ads. See our P2P trading guide.
- You want a crypto card for spending in Georgia. Bybit has a resident card with Pave Bank; WhiteBIT has none we could confirm.
- You want to see the lari exchange rate before you commit. Without a GEL order book, you won’t. Compare with the published fee lines on our crypto exchange comparison.
- You need a P2P market in lari. We found no public evidence of one on WhiteBIT.
What we could not verify
WhiteBIT’s main website and help centre answered every request with a bot check, so several points rely on its public data rather than its written terms:
- WhiteBIT’s terms of service and restricted-country list.
- How lari converts to crypto, and the rate or spread applied.
- Whether a GEL P2P market exists.
- KYC tiers and the limits tied to them.
- WBT holder fee discounts.
- Whether SEPA and SWIFT are available to Georgian residents.
- The PayBox top-up fee for WhiteBIT.
- The reported ownership link with Hash Bank.
We’ll update the review when WhiteBIT publishes these. Whatever you decide, individuals’ income from selling crypto is taxed at 0% in Georgia under the Ministry of Finance decision of 28 June 2019; the caveats are in crypto tax in Georgia.
