MiCA-licensed exchanges: updated list from the ESMA register

On 30 December 2024, the MiCA Regulation entered into full application across the 30 countries of the EEA. From that moment, any platform wishing to offer crypto-asset services to European citizens requires a CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) licence or must rely on a transitional period that expires, in all cases, on 1 July 2026.

In this article you will find the complete list of exchanges with a valid MiCA licence, drawn from ESMA's official register and updated daily. We also explain which services each platform is authorised to provide, what it means if an exchange does not appear on the list, and what changes on 1 July when the transitional period expires definitively across the entire Union.

The ESMA register is updated periodically. The data on this page is synchronised automatically each day with the official source. The date of the last update appears alongside each table.

What changes on 1 July 2026

Before MiCA, the regulation of crypto-asset services in Europe was a patchwork: each country had its own framework, or simply had none at all. Germany required authorisation from the BaFin under the KWG. France had the PSAN register under the Loi PACTE. Italy had the OAM register. The Netherlands had the DNB register. Portugal had the Banco de Portugal register. Spain had the Banco de España register. Malta had operated under its own Virtual Financial Assets Act since 2018. None of these regimes was equivalent to the others, none granted automatic access to the rest of the Union, and several countries simply had no specific framework for crypto-assets. MiCA replaces them all.

The regulation included a transitional mechanism to give existing platforms time to adjust. Each member state could grant up to 18 months of transitional period from 30 December 2024. Some applied shorter deadlines: the Netherlands and Poland closed their transition in June 2025. Others applied the full 18-month maximum. The result is that all deadlines converge on a single, immovable date: 1 July 2026.

From that date, operating without a CASP licence in the European Union is not a regulatory grey area: it is an infringement. ESMA confirmed as much in April 2026: any entity that continues to provide crypto-asset services to European clients without MiCA authorisation will be in breach of EU law and must cease its activities. The penalties provided for include suspension of operations and fines of up to 5% of annual turnover or €10 million, whichever is greater.

There is an important nuance that affects users directly: a licence covers exactly the services each platform declared in its application, and only those. An exchange may be authorised for custody and trading, but not for executing advanced orders, managing your portfolio, or providing advice if those were not included in its application. Later in this article you will find a table listing the authorised services of each known platform, so you can check whether what you use today will still be available after 1 July.

How the MiCA licensing system works

MiCA introduces a principle that did not previously exist in Europe for crypto-assets: a single licence, valid across all 30 countries of the EEA. A platform authorised in any member state may operate legally throughout the Union without seeking additional authorisations in each country. For a detailed account of how the authorisation system works, what requirements it imposes, and what specific protections it offers users, see [enlace: mica-reglamento-europeo-criptoactivos] and [enlace: mica-como-afecta-al-inversor].

The requirements a platform must meet to obtain authorisation are identical across the Union: minimum capital, segregation of client assets, governance, IT security, AML and KYC procedures. What MiCA does not standardise is the process by which each national authority assesses whether those requirements are met. Each regulator decides what documentation it demands, how much time it devotes, what questions it asks, and how it weighs risks. Some authorities have years of experience supervising crypto-assets—such as the German BaFin, the French AMF, and the Dutch DNB—while others began processing MiCA applications from scratch in 2025. This asymmetry in capacity and experience is structural, not deliberate, and ESMA itself has been working since 2023 on what it calls "supervisory convergence" to reduce it.

In July 2025, ESMA published the results of its first peer review of a CASP authorisation under MiCA: a review of the conduct of the Maltese authority, MFSA. The official finding, set out in public report ESMA42-2004696504-8164, was that MFSA had authorised a provider with material issues unresolved at the time of authorisation, and that the assessment process should have been more thorough. MFSA accepted the findings and committed to implementing the recommendations. The name of the affected provider was not made public. ESMA noted explicitly that the peer review, whilst focused on Malta, was intended to inform the practices of all national authorities and to prevent regulatory arbitrage.

The AMF, the FMA and CONSOB have publicly called for more centralised and co-ordinated supervision. On 4 December 2025, the European Commission responded with a legislative proposal (COM/2025/941-943) that would transfer direct supervision of all CASPs from national authorities to ESMA. The European Central Bank formally backed the proposal in April 2026, noting that large crypto-asset platforms may have systemic relevance and require unified oversight. The proposal is currently under negotiation in the European Parliament and the Council, is not yet law, and a lengthy and complex process is expected given that several member states are reluctant to cede supervisory powers.

MiCA is not a static regulation. Articles 140 and 142 mandate that ESMA and EBA publish annual reports on its application, and that the European Commission submit, before 30 June 2027, a comprehensive review report that may be accompanied by a legislative proposal for amendment. On 20 May 2026, the Commission launched the public consultation that will feed into that report, open until 31 August 2026. The consultation covers all elements of the regulation and invites companies, financial institutions, academics and citizens to express views on whether MiCA remains fit for purpose. Those wishing to participate may do so directly on the European Commission's portal: [enlace externo: https://finance.ec.europa.eu/regulation-and-supervision/consultations-0/targeted-consultation-review-mica-regulation_en]. What some are already calling "MiCA 2" has a timetable: consultation open until August 2026, Commission report before June 2027, legislative proposal if appropriate thereafter.

MiCA-licensed exchanges as of May 2026

As of today, ESMA's official register lists the CASP-licensed exchanges serving retail users in the EEA. The table below sets out all of them. For the better-known platforms, we also include the specific services each one is authorised to provide — relevant information for understanding what you can and cannot do on your usual platform from 1 July onwards.

The data come from ESMA's official CSV, updated daily. The "Country" column indicates the member state in which the platform obtained its licence, not necessarily where it has its visible commercial headquarters. Thanks to the pasaporte europeo, all platforms on this list may operate legally across all 30 EEA countries regardless of their country of licence.

MiCA-licensed exchanges — known platforms

The exchanges listed in the table above are authorised, in addition to custody, fiat currency purchase/sale, crypto-to-crypto exchange and transfers (services which all of them provide), for the additional services indicated:

Other MiCA-licensed exchanges

Exchanges without a recognised brand name appear in the table below under their legal denomination as listed in the ESMA register. If your platform does not appear in either of these two tables, consult the following section.

Exchanges without MiCA licence as of May 2026

If your exchange does not appear in the list above, it may be operating under the transitional period that MiCA granted to platforms that were already providing services lawfully before 30 December 2024. That period expires on 1 July 2026 without exception. What this means for you as a user, what protections you have until that date, and what changes afterwards, we explain in detail in [enlace: mica-como-afecta-al-inversor].

The most significant case by volume of European users is Binance. As of today, Binance does not appear in ESMA's official register as an authorised CASP under MiCA. What is documented: on 23 January 2026, Binance submitted a formal MiCA licence application to Greece's HCMC, having established a local legal entity, Binary Greece S.A., for that purpose. The HCMC initiated a review process with the support of external consulting firms. As of the last update to this page, the application is pending and has not been resolved. Binance's own CEO, Richard Teng, stated in February 2026 that the resolution timeline would depend on the Greek authorities.

Article 143(3) of MiCA is clear on this point: a pending application does not extend the right to operate beyond 1 July 2026. ESMA confirmed this in its official response QA_2220: the transitional period expires on that date regardless of whether an application is awaiting resolution. If a platform does not hold a licence granted before 1 July, it must cease its activities in the European Union from that point. You can verify the current status of any platform in ESMA's public register at any time.

What this means for users

Until 1 July 2026, a European user may be operating on a platform without a MiCA licence in a wholly lawful manner, provided that platform was registered under the previous national regime and is in the process of adapting. From 1 July onwards, that grey area disappears. Either the platform holds a granted MiCA licence, or it is operating in breach of European law.

The specific protections that MiCA affords users—such as asset segregation, capital requirements, and complaints procedures—as well as what it does not guarantee, such as a deposit guarantee fund equivalent to that offered by banks, are set out in detail in [enlace: mica-como-afecta-al-inversor].

MiCA prohibits platforms based outside the European Union from providing crypto-asset services to European clients, except in one very strictly defined circumstance: where the client themselves proactively contacts the foreign platform, without any active solicitation on its part. Outside that case, using a platform without a MiCA licence is a decision the user takes beyond the scope of European regulatory protection. It is not unlawful for the user, but it does mean operating without the safeguards MiCA requires: no verified asset segregation, no supervised capital requirements, no regulated complaints procedures, and no recourse to European authorities in the event of a problem.

Platforms such as Kraken operate through distinct legal entities in different jurisdictions. The fact that a group has a MiCA-licensed subsidiary does not automatically mean that all its users fall under that licence. ESMA expressly requires CASPs to communicate clearly which legal entity is providing the service to each client, and prohibits platforms from using group structures or branding strategies that obscure which entity is actually operating. If you use a platform with a global presence, you can verify in your terms and conditions, or directly in the ESMA register, whether your account is managed by the MiCA-licensed entity.

ESMA has published a direct public recommendation to users: verify whether your platform is listed as an authorised CASP in the official register before 1 July. If it is not listed, the recommendation is to transfer your crypto-assets to an authorised platform or to a self-custody wallet before that date. This page is precisely that verification tool: if your platform appears in the tables above, it is authorised. If it does not appear, consult the official ESMA register [external link: ESMA register].

Frequently asked questions

Editorial reflection

MiCA is the most comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto-assets anywhere in the world. This is not an opinion: it is a fact by contrast. No other jurisdiction of comparable size has an equivalent regulation in force. That deserves recognition. And precisely because the bar is set high, the tensions emerging in its application deserve to be named with equal clarity.

MiCA unifies the rules but not the supervision. Each national authority assesses applications with its own resources, its own accumulated expertise and, in some cases, with concrete economic incentives to attract registrations. The pasaporte europeo turns every national authorisation decision into a de facto decision for all 30 EEA countries — an enormous responsibility for regulators who in some cases are learning as they go. When the world's largest exchange by volume chooses a country with no prior experience of MiCA licences to submit its application, the choice, it is fair to say, is neither random nor arbitrary.

The institutional response exists and is significant. While negotiations over centralised supervision progress, the system functions with what it has. A MiCA licence on the ESMA register is today the only legal guarantee available to the European user: imperfect in its uniformity of application, yet real in its obligations. The alternative—operating with unlicensed platforms—carries none of those guarantees. The distinction is not between licences of variable quality, but between having regulated protection and having none at all.

On 20 May 2026, the European Commission opened a public consultation on whether MiCA remains fit for purpose. It closes on 31 August. This is the formal mechanism by which the regulation is improved, and it is open to anyone—not just firms or institutions. If as a user you have a view on how MiCA protects you, or fails to, this is the official channel through which to make it heard. What some are already calling MiCA 2 is being written now. [external link: https://finance.ec.europa.eu/regulation-and-supervision/consultations-0/targeted-consultation-review-mica-regulation_en]

Consult the official ESMA register of authorised CASPs