MiCA licensed crypto exchanges in Germany (2026)

A MiCA licence, also called a CASP authorisation, lets a crypto exchange legally take customers in Germany and the rest of the EU. As of 2 November 2026, all 5 exchanges we cover here (Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit, OKX and KuCoin) show some form of MiCA authorisation on record. One of those comes from the exchange's own regulation page, four rely on a third-party MiCA tracker for the exact legal entity name, and you should check them yourself before you trust this list.

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What is a MiCA licence (mica lizenz) and why does it matter for German users?

MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114), entered into application in December 2024. Since then, crypto-asset service providers operating in the EU need a MiCA authorisation to keep serving customers legally.

For someone in Germany, this is the one licence that actually governs the exchange you sign up with. Some German readers search for this as "mica lizenz". One EU country's regulator grants the licence, then passports it to others. It replaces the patchwork of national crypto rules that used to apply before 2024.

Which of these 5 exchanges hold a MiCA licence today?

OKX holds a full MiCA CASP licence from Malta's financial regulator, covering 30 EEA countries^†. This comes from OKX's own regulation page.

This is on our list of exchanges available to German users (checked against public sources, last checked 2026-11-02 for the MiCA entity/date; 2026-09-12 for overall market access). Confirm current status on ESMA's MiCA register or BaFin's site before you deposit. More detail on OKX lives at /exchanges/okx/.

Bybit holds a MiCA authorisation from Austria's FMA, covering 29 EEA countries including Germany^†. That part comes straight from Bybit's own site. The specific entity, Bybit EU GmbH, and the 28 May 2025 grant date come from a third-party MiCA tracker rather than Bybit's own page^†.

The same checked-date note applies here too. See /exchanges/bybit/ for more on Bybit.

Coinbase has a MiCA (CASP) authorisation through Coinbase Luxembourg S.A., granted by Luxembourg's CSSF on 20 June 2025^†. Checked via a third-party MiCA tracker, not Coinbase's own page. Confirm it on ESMA's register before relying on it.

Kraken authorised its EU arm, Payward Europe Solutions Limited, via the Central Bank of Ireland on 25 June 2025^†. Checked via a third-party MiCA tracker, not Kraken's own page. Confirm it on ESMA's register before relying on it.

KuCoin got its MiCA authorisation through KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, granted by Austria's FMA on 27 November 2025^†. Checked via a third-party MiCA tracker, not KuCoin's own page. Confirm it on ESMA's register before relying on it.

How did the 1 July 2026 grandfathering deadline change things?

A grandfathering clause let providers that were already active before 30 December 2024 keep operating without a MiCA licence until 1 July 2026 at the latest, or until they were authorised or refused. That deadline has already passed as of this writing.

Practically, that means any exchange still serving German customers now needs an actual authorisation on the ESMA register, not just a pending application. A brand that was "grandfathered in" a year ago has either been granted a licence, been refused, or should no longer be taking new EU customers at all.

How do you check an exchange yourself on ESMA's register?

Don't take any article's word for it, including this one. The list above can go stale the day after we check it.

1. Open ESMA's MiCA page and find the link to the interim CASP register.
2. Search by the exchange's legal entity name, not its brand name. Look for "Payward Europe Solutions Limited," not "Kraken."
3. Check the status shown next to the entity and which regulator issued it.
4. Write down the date you checked. A vague memory of "I checked a while ago" isn't something you can act on later .
5. Cross check on BaFin's site for Germany-specific warnings.

ESMA, the EU's securities regulator, publishes an interim MiCA register listing which companies are authorised and which are flagged as non-compliant. It's updated weekly, which means the picture can shift between the day you read this and the day you sign up.

Germany's financial supervisor is BaFin. Some readers search for this as "bafin krypto". BaFin publishes its own warnings about unauthorised providers, so check there too, and it works alongside ESMA, not instead of it.

What a MiCA licence does not guarantee

A MiCA licence is not deposit insurance. It doesn't protect your balance if the exchange gets hacked, and it doesn't shield you from a coin losing most of its value. It confirms the company met the EU's rules for running a crypto service, nothing more.

No register and no checklist can make using an exchange completely certain. Waiting to feel completely sure before you act usually just means you're manufacturing a feeling of safety that doesn't actually exist . The honest version is smaller: check the register yourself, accept that some risk stays no matter what you find, and size what you deposit accordingly.

Common mistakes

• Treating a MiCA licence like a seal from BaFin itself, when BaFin is a separate national regulator.
• Assuming one country's MiCA grant automatically means every feature is live in Germany on day one.
• Trusting a banner on an exchange's homepage instead of checking the actual register entry.
• Reading an old article's exchange list as current. Licences get granted, refused, and, in theory, withdrawn.
• Skipping the entity name search and only searching the brand name, which won't show up on the register.

If you're still choosing between exchanges rather than checking one you've already picked, /tools/find-my-exchange/ walks through the basics, and /guides/best-crypto-exchange-germany/ covers the wider picture for German users. Fee differences between these 5 are worth running through /tools/fee-calculator/ too.

FAQ

Is a MiCA licence the same as BaFin approval?

No. MiCA is an EU-wide authorisation granted by one country's regulator (Malta, Austria, Luxembourg or Ireland for the exchanges above), not by BaFin. BaFin is Germany's own supervisor and runs separately, though it does watch for unauthorised providers in Germany.

Does a MiCA licence cover all EU countries?

It's designed to, through passporting. OKX states its licence covers 30 EEA countries and Bybit states 29, both including Germany^††. Check the register for the current passporting status of any exchange before assuming full coverage.

What if an exchange isn't on the ESMA register?

That's a reason to pause. An exchange with no entry, an expired entry, or a non-compliance flag has not cleared the bar the rest of the EU market now requires.

Can a MiCA licence be withdrawn after it's granted?

Regulators can act against a licensed entity if it breaks the rules later. A licence granted in 2025 is not a permanent guarantee for 2026 and beyond, which is exactly why the register gets checked weekly instead of published once.

Our methodology for how we verify and score exchanges is at /methodology/. Our affiliate relationships are disclosed in full at /affiliate-disclosure/.

RISK: Crypto assets are volatile and unregulated in many jurisdictions. Not financial advice.

Last updated 2026-11-02.