Eighteen months, thirteen names
The door opened in January 2025 and for a year and a half they kept coming: thirteen big names secured a MiCA licence. Since 1 July 2026 the door is shut — no licence, no spot trading in the EU.
The first: eToro, 16 January 2025. The last big entrant: Backpack, 27 May 2026, through Latvia's central bank.
What such a licence actually covers — and what it does not — is in our MiCA explainer with the full table. This page tracks who got one, and when.
The timeline — newest first
| Licensed since | Exchange | Licensed entity | Supervisor | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jun 2026 | WhiteBIT | WB-Shields Innovations GmbH | FMA | Austria |
| 27 May 2026 | Backpack | Trek Technologies SIA | Latvijas Banka | Latvia |
| 27 Nov 2025 | KuCoin‡ | KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH | FMA | Austria |
| 20 Oct 2025 | Revolut | Revolut Digital Assets (Europe) Ltd | CySEC | Cyprus |
| 29 Sep 2025 | Gate | Gate Technology Limited | MFSA | Malta |
| 4 Sep 2025 | Bullish | Bullish Europe GmbH | BaFin | Germany |
| 21 Aug 2025 | Gemini† | Gemini Intergalactic EU Ltd | MFSA | Malta |
| 24 Jul 2025 | Finst | Finst B.V. | AFM | Netherlands |
| 26 Jun 2025 | Bitvavo | Bitvavo B.V. | AFM | Netherlands |
| 25 Jun 2025 | Kraken | Payward Europe Solutions Ltd | Central Bank of Ireland | Ireland |
| 20 Jun 2025 | Coinbase | Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. | CSSF | Luxembourg |
| 28 May 2025 | Bybit | Bybit EU GmbH | FMA | Austria |
| 15 May 2025 | Bitstamp | Bitstamp Europe S.A. | CSSF | Luxembourg |
| 27 Jan 2025 | Crypto.com | Foris DAX MT Ltd | MFSA | Malta |
| 27 Jan 2025 | OKX | OKX Europe Ltd | MFSA | Malta |
| 24 Jan 2025 | Bitpanda* | Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH | BaFin | Germany |
| 16 Jan 2025 | eToro | eToro (Europe) Ltd | CySEC | Cyprus |
* Bitpanda holds three MiCA licences: BaFin came first, with further authorisations from Malta's MFSA and Austria's FMA.
† Gemini obtained the licence and then left anyway: it closed EEA accounts on 6 April 2026 as a commercial decision. It is still listed in the register.
‡ Licensed but not open: per the FMA's most recent statement (May 2026), KuCoin EU may not yet commence business operations.
Source: the public ESMA CASP register, as of 31 July 2026 (~324 licensed parties in total; these are the names that matter to EU traders). The licensed entities per name are in the full table.
What the order gives away
January 2025 belonged to the fast movers: eToro, Bitpanda, OKX and Crypto.com, within two weeks of each other. Then months of silence — until early summer, when the heavyweights came through: Bitstamp, Bybit, Coinbase, Kraken and Bitvavo in the space of seven weeks.
And note who knocked where. Malta caught the early international names, the Netherlands handled its own market through the AFM (Bitvavo, Finst) — and the very last one came in through Latvia: Backpack.
Getting in is not the same as staying
Gemini secured its licence in August 2025 and still left the EEA in April 2026. KuCoin got one in November 2025 and never opened to EU clients. And Binance never got one at all: on 1 July 2026 it left the EEA.
A licence is a starting permit, not a finish line. Hence the daggers in the table.
What applies since 1 July 2026
Fully mandatory. Anyone offering spot crypto to EU users today is in the register — or breaking the law. Check it yourself: look up the legal entity from the terms (not the brand name) in the ESMA CASP register.
The timeline above keeps growing. We update it as soon as the register moves.
Frequently asked questions
Does Binance have a MiCA licence?
No. Binance withdrew its Greek application on 24 June 2026 and held no MiCA licence when the transition period ended on 1 July 2026. It has not offered spot crypto in the EEA since that date.
How many exchanges hold a MiCA licence?
The ESMA CASP register lists around 324 licensed parties (July 2026), but the bulk are payment providers or custodians. The table above shows the trading platforms that matter to EU traders.
Which exchange got its MiCA licence last?
Of the big names: Backpack, on 27 May 2026, through Latvia's central bank (Latvijas Banka).
What happened to exchanges without a licence?
Since 1 July 2026 they may no longer offer spot crypto to EU users. Binance left the EEA on exactly that date.
Is a MiCA licence enough for perpetuals?
No. MiCA covers spot trading, custody and transfers only. Perpetuals and tokenised stocks require a MiFID II licence — and that list is a lot shorter.