Which exchanges you may still legally use in Europe

Updated on 12 November 2026: the rule on fines now follows Article 111 of MiCA, the number of trading platforms comes from the register, and the passage about platforms said to be missing has been removed. The figures reflect the position on 24 July 2026; the current position is in our MiCA dossier.

Something changed this summer that attracted very little noise but has more consequence for the average European crypto investor than any price move. On 1 July 2026 the last MiCA transitional period expired. Since then there is no exemption left: anyone offering crypto-asset services in the European Union needs an authorisation. Full stop.

What exactly changed

MiCA has applied in full since 30 December 2024, but member states were allowed to grant existing providers a run-up period — so-called grandfathering. In practice that meant you could keep operating on your old national registration while your application was being assessed. That period has now ended, and no extension is coming.

For firms that did not make it, this is not a formality. Anyone who remains active without an authorisation is in breach of MiCA. The regulation requires supervisors to be able to impose maximum fines of at least 5 million euro or 5 percent of annual revenue for this, and member states may go higher.

309 authorisations, and that says less than you think

ESMA's public CASP register stood at 309 authorised providers on 24 July 2026, spread across 30 EU and EEA markets and issued by 26 national supervisors. In early July the figure was still around 280, so the counter is very much still running.

That number suggests plenty of choice, but it is misleading. MiCA distinguishes ten separate crypto-asset services, and most authorisation holders are not trading venues at all. They are custodians, brokers, payment providers, advisers and order executors. Of the 309, only 21 held an authorisation to operate a trading platform, the place where a retail investor places their own orders.

Well-known platforms with an authorisation

The familiar names that did make it: Coinbase and Bitstamp obtained their authorisation in Luxembourg, Kraken in Ireland, Bitvavo in the Netherlands. Malta hosts OKX, Crypto.com and Gate.io EU. Bitpanda holds a dual authorisation in Germany and Austria. Bybit EU and WhiteBIT EU operate from Austria, eToro and Revolut from Cyprus. One Trading and Bullish EU complete the list.

One important detail: thanks to passporting, a platform authorised in one member state may serve clients across the entire Union. A Polish or Greek investor can therefore legally trade at a platform authorised in Ireland or Germany — the authorisation follows the firm, not the customer.

Is your platform not listed?

Not every well-known exchange holds a MiCA authorisation, and an authorisation may cover only some of the services. Anyone trading at a platform without an authorisation sits outside the European protection framework. No mandatory segregation of client funds, no complaints procedure through a European supervisor, no liability rules if custodied assets are lost.

Germany 63, Poland zero

On 24 July 2026 the distribution across Europe was strikingly uneven. Germany led with 63 authorised providers, followed by France with 31 and the Netherlands with 29. Cyprus and Malta both stood at 22. At the other end of the spectrum, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Romania had not yet issued a single authorisation at that point.

That says more about the capacity and processing times of national supervisors than about market size. Poland has a large and active crypto community, but at that point it still had no formally designated competent authority for MiCA.

What it means for you

Practically: check whether the platform you use appears in the ESMA register, and under which supervisor. The register is public and free to consult. If your platform is absent yet still actively courts European customers, that is at minimum a reason to reconsider your position.

For the vast majority of users in the Netherlands and Belgium, little changes in practice — Bitvavo, Kraken, Coinbase, Bitpanda and eToro are all authorised. The problem sits mainly with those who moved to a platform outside the Union in recent years because it was cheaper or less restrictive there. That route has become considerably less comfortable in legal terms.

Sources: ESMA CASP register, CASP Tracker (24 July 2026), Elvinger Hoss, Spaziocrypto, MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, Article 111). Last checked: 25 July 2026, updated on 12 November 2026.