MiCA CASP Deadline: the 1 July 2026 grandfathering cliff
What the end of MiCA's transitional period means for EU crypto users — which exchanges stay, which leave, and what to do before you deposit.
Short answer
On 1 July 2026, MiCA's transitional grandfathering period ends. Any exchange serving EU/EEA customers must hold a full CASP authorisation by then or stop operating in the bloc. The big leavers are Binance (no licence anywhere, withdrew its last application), Gemini (a strategic exit that closed EU/EEA retail accounts in April 2026) and MEXC (unlicensed, must geoblock the EU). Licensed platforms — Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, OKX, Crypto.com, Bybit, KuCoin, Gate.io, Bitvavo, Bitpanda — stay and passport EEA-wide. On regulated exchanges USDT is out and USDC is in. Verify any platform on ESMA's register before you deposit.
The single most important date in EU crypto for 2026 is 1 July. It is the final end of the transitional "grandfathering" period written into Article 143(3) of MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. Until now, exchanges that were already operating under old national registrations have been allowed to keep serving EU and EEA customers while their full MiCA authorisation was pending. That runway closes on 1 July 2026. After it, the rule is binary: hold a full Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorisation, or stop serving the EU/EEA. For the background on the regime itself, see our MiCA compliance guide.
What actually changes on 1 July
Nothing about the regulation is new on 1 July — what ends is the grace period. Several member states set their own earlier cut-offs inside the window MiCA allowed: Germany and Ireland both ended grandfathering on 31 December 2025. None extend it beyond 1 July 2026, so that date is the hard backstop across the bloc.
Enforcement is not nominal. National regulators can levy fines of up to 12.5% of global annual turnover, and MiCA attaches personal liability to executives who keep an unauthorised firm operating. That combination is why the firms without a licence are choosing to withdraw rather than risk operating into the deadline. By late June 2026 roughly 244 CASPs had been authorised across 25 EU/EEA regulators, according to the ESMA register and the community tracker casptracker.eu — a sizeable licensed market, but a much shorter list than the number of brands that previously served EU users.
Who stays
The following platforms hold a MiCA CASP authorisation and can passport their services across the entire EEA from a single home-state licence:
- Coinbase — Luxembourg (CSSF)
- Kraken — Ireland (CBI)
- Bitstamp — Luxembourg (CSSF)
- OKX — Malta (MFSA)
- Crypto.com — Malta (MFSA)
- Bybit — Austria (FMA)
- KuCoin — Austria (FMA)
- Gate.io — Malta (MFSA)
- Bitvavo — Netherlands (AFM)
- Bitpanda — Austria (FMA)
The clustering in Malta and Austria reflects where the larger global exchanges chose to anchor their EU entity; the passport means a Maltese or Austrian licence is good across all member states without 27 separate notifications. Our MiCA-licensed crypto banks hub tracks the full authorised set and the regulator behind each.
Who's leaving — Binance, Gemini, MEXC
Three high-profile names will not be licensed EU options at the deadline, for three different reasons.
Binance holds no CASP in any member state. It withdrew its final EU application — filed in Greece — on 24 June 2026, and is halting EU/EEA services from 1 July 2026. Existing balances remain withdrawable, and the company says it intends to re-apply elsewhere, but at the deadline it is not a licensed platform for EU/EEA users. (Our standing analysis of the brand lives at is Binance safe?.)
Gemini is the unusual case: it actually holds a Malta MFSA CASP, but made a strategic decision to exit the region anyway, closing all EU/EEA and UK retail accounts on 6 April 2026. The licence exists; the business chose not to use it. For EU users that is the same practical outcome as not being licensed at all — the platform is unavailable.
MEXC is unlicensed and was publicly flagged by the Dutch regulator AFM in September 2025 for offering services without authorisation. It must geoblock the EU. Treat any continued EU access as operating outside the regime, not as a green light.
The Poland exception
Poland is a special case worth flagging for anyone using a Polish-registered platform. The Polish President vetoed the MiCA implementing bill twice — on 2 December 2025 and again on 12 February 2026 — leaving the country without the domestic legislation needed to issue CASP authorisations. The practical consequence is that Polish-registered VASPs cannot obtain a CASP and face wind-down by 1 July 2026 like any other unlicensed operator. The legislative stalemate, not the firms themselves, is the blocker here.
Stablecoins: USDT out, USDC in
MiCA also reshapes which stablecoins you can hold on a regulated EU exchange. Tether did not pursue MiCA e-money token (EMT) authorisation for USDT, and as a result USDT has been delisted for retail trading on MiCA-regulated exchanges across the EEA. The compliant alternative is USDC: Circle holds an ACPR e-money licence and an AMF CASP, making USDC the dominant compliant USD stablecoin in the EU, alongside the euro stablecoin EURC.
One important nuance: the restriction is on regulated exchanges listing USDT for EEA retail, not on the token itself. USDT you hold in self-custody is unaffected — you can still hold and move it from your own wallet. What changes is your ability to buy, sell or earn on it through a licensed EU platform. For how compliant stablecoin products work, see our stablecoin yield guide.
What this means for you
For an EU/EEA user the takeaway is straightforward but worth acting on before the deadline:
- Use only MiCA-licensed platforms. If your exchange is on the leaving list, plan your withdrawal now rather than at the last minute.
- Verify before you deposit. Check the platform on the official ESMA register at esma.europa.eu, or the community tracker casptracker.eu. Authorisation status can change, so confirm rather than assume.
- Understand what a CASP licence does and doesn't do. Licensed CASPs must segregate client assets and meet conduct rules — but MiCA is not deposit insurance. A licence reduces certain risks; it does not guarantee you against loss.
The grandfathering cliff is, on balance, a tidying-up of the EU market: it concentrates activity on a licensed, supervised set of platforms and pushes the holdouts out. The cost is short-term disruption for users of the leaving exchanges — which is exactly why the period before 1 July is the time to move.
FAQ
What happens on 1 July 2026? +
Can I still use Binance in the EU after 1 July 2026? +
Which exchanges are still legal for EU users? +
Is my USDT affected by MiCA? +
How do I check if a platform is licensed under MiCA? +
Sources and further reading
- ESMA — register of authorised CASPs
- casptracker.eu — community CASP authorisation tracker
- MiCA compliance guide — how the regime works
- MiCA-licensed crypto banks — the authorised platform set
- Best crypto banks · Methodology — how we score regulatory safety