On 1 July, the EU's MiCA transition period ends. Every crypto platform serving European users needs a CASP authorisation by then. Without one, it stops operating.

Out of roughly 1,200 services registered across Europe, about 230 have that licence so far. The rest have six days.

If your exchange doesn't make the cut, it blocks new deposits and forces withdrawals. Binance, the largest exchange in the world, withdrew its MiCA application in Greece last week after reports it would be rejected. The company says it will reapply in another member state, but as of today it has no EU licence with days to go. Most of the smaller platforms that disappear won't make the news.

Check your platform

The ESMA register lists every firm authorised under MiCA. It updates weekly and is the only source that counts. A polished app telling you everything is fine is marketing, not a legal status.

Exchanges with confirmed authorisation include Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Bitstamp, Bitpanda, Bitvavo, Crypto.com, and Revolut. If yours isn't on the register, move your funds before 1 July. Don't wait for an email.

USDT is off regulated EU platforms

Tether didn't apply for MiCA authorisation. USDT has been delisted from Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Crypto.com, and others for European users between December 2024 and March 2025.

USDC is the compliant alternative. Circle secured its e-money licence from France's ACPR on 1 July 2024. If you hold USDT in self-custody, nothing changes on the regulatory side, but trading it through EU platforms will keep getting harder.

What MiCA actually protects

Platforms holding your crypto now have to keep client assets separate from their own. If the firm goes insolvent, your holdings are ring-fenced. Before MiCA, most platforms disclaimed that liability. Anyone who went through FTX or Celsius insolvency knows what the difference between "client" and "creditor" costs in practice.

Custodians are also liable for losing client assets through their own fault. That should always have been the standard. It wasn't.

What hasn't changed for you

MiCA regulates platforms, not individuals. Self-custody is legal across the EU and your right to hold your own keys is unaffected.

German tax treatment is the same: gains are tax-free after a 12-month holding period. If you sell within a year, short-term gains under €1,000 are tax-free, but exceed that threshold and the full amount is taxable at your income rate.

The floor, not the ceiling

MiCA makes the regulated side of this industry safer. Asset segregation and custody liability are protections that didn't exist two years ago, and they're overdue.

But a licence means a platform met a minimum standard. FTX had auditors. Celsius had terms of service. Regulation sets a baseline, and baselines are worth having. Self-custody is still the only arrangement where your access doesn't depend on someone else staying solvent or staying licensed.

Check the ESMA register. And if you want your crypto in a wallet you control: Get Bitwala