What the public record shows.
A MiCA authorisation and a supervisory restriction are different instruments, issued at different times, and one does not cancel the other. Each fact below links the regulator’s own publication.
ESMA: “The MiCA transitional period will officially expire across the EU on 1 July 2026. After this date, any entity providing crypto-asset services to EU clients without a MiCA licence will be in breach of EU law and must cease offering such services.” Source: ESMA statement on the end of transitional periods, 17 April 2026.
The FMA granted KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH a crypto-asset service provider authorisation on 27 November 2025. Sources: FMA statement, 18 May 2026; the FMA’s grant notice of 28 November 2025.
ESMA’s register of authorised CASPs (file last modified 22 October 2026, read 29 October 2026) lists KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH: competent authority FMA (Austria), LEI 529900B4G0EGK7Z9KT45, notification date 27 November 2025, no authorisation end date, five services (custody, crypto-for-funds and crypto-for-crypto exchange, placing, transfer), passported to 29 EEA states — Malta not among them. ESMA’s register of non-compliant entities (file of 22 October 2026) has no entry matching KuCoin. Every movement we record is in our dated register change log.
An administrative decision dated 18 February 2026 under the MiCAR Enforcement Act (MiCA-VVG) makes the commencement of business operations inadmissible; the FMA points “in particular” to governance requirements and additional senior-management key functions. Source: FMA statement, 18 May 2026. As at 29 October 2026 that is the latest FMA statement on this entity we found; we could not confirm whether the decision is still in force.
The FMA prohibited KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH from conducting new business on 19 February 2026 after its AML Officer and Sanctions Compliance Officer key functions were no longer filled, and lifted that prohibition on 18 May 2026 once they were filled again. Lifting this measure did not lift the one in Fact 4.
What the FMA said — in its own words.
“However, the commencement of business operations still remains inadmissible due to an administrative decision dated 18.02.2026 under the MiCAR Enforcement Act (MiCA-VVG; MiCA-Verordnung-Vollzugsgesetz), since all conditions under supervisory law have not yet been fully met. In particular, these relate to governance requirements as well as the filling of additional key functions in the senior management.”
“On the register” and “open for business” are two different questions.
| The question | The authoritative source |
|---|---|
| Is the entity authorised under MiCA? | ESMA’s register of authorised CASPs, plus the home NCA’s register. Here: the FMA. |
| Is the entity under a supervisory measure? | The NCA’s published decisions and news. A measure can restrict an authorised firm without removing it from the register. |
| Can I actually use the service today? | The provider’s own current EU service notices, by country and by product. No register answers this. |
Match the specific legal entity named in your account terms, not the brand: an authorisation attaches to the entity, and a group-level announcement is not the same thing.
If you market a crypto service into the EU, this cuts the other way.
Under MiCA Article 66(2) (ESMA text), every customer-facing message must be clear, fair, and not misleading — and claims about your own authorisation are exactly the kind of statement that has to be accurate. A page that says “licensed in the EU” while a supervisory measure restricts what the entity may actually do is the failure mode this case illustrates.
| If you are… | The immediate move | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Unsure whether a live asset still passes A banner, landing page, or email running into the EU. |
Paste the copy or URL and get a verdict against the MiCA marketing rules in seconds. | Free MiCA check → |
| Making authorisation claims in your copy “Licensed”, “regulated”, “MiCA-compliant” on a live page. |
Self-serve the full MiCA, FCA, and GDPR Pro rule packs and audit every asset before it ships. | The published rule sets → |
| Facing a whole asset-set review or a market change A licence change, a migration, or a high-stakes launch. |
A signed, whole-asset-set review across your EU markets against MiCA, FCA, and GDPR in five business days. | Talk to NorthPoint → |
Common questions.
Is KuCoin MiCA-authorised?
KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH is: ESMA’s register of authorised CASPs (file of 22 October 2026) lists it with the FMA (Austria) as competent authority and a notification date of 27 November 2025, and the FMA published the grant of that authorisation. The authorisation attaches to that legal entity, not to the wider KuCoin group.
Can I use KuCoin in the EU right now?
The FMA’s statement of 18 May 2026 says the commencement of business operations “still remains inadmissible” under a decision dated 18 February 2026. We found no later FMA statement as at 29 October 2026 and could not confirm from a primary source whether that has changed. Read the FMA’s news and KuCoin’s own EU notices for your country before relying on any service.
Related rules.
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Every exchange we track, with its status, competent authority, and the date each row was last reviewed — the dataset this page draws on.
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Every movement we have recorded between consecutive ESMA register files, with the file dates and counts. Also available as an Atom feed.
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The opposite case: no matching entry on our register snapshot, and a withdrawn application — the not-authorised end of the same check.
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An authorised case with no published measure attached — a BaFin (Germany) CASP authorisation, announced 27 January 2025.
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The same status check applied to OKX’s EU entity and its MFSA (Malta) MiCA authorisation.
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The dated, sourced list of firms that have suspended, withdrawn, or been restricted in the EU around MiCA in force.
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The general status page: what the end of the transitional period changed, and what it means if a provider is not authorised.
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MiCA, FCA, SEC, GDPR — the marketing rules, quoted and explained.
General, educational information for EU users and marketing teams, not legal, financial, or investment advice, not a determination of any firm’s authorisation status, and not a characterisation of any firm’s conduct or any authority’s intentions. Sources: ESMA’s registers of authorised CASPs and non-compliant entities (files of 22 October 2026), ESMA’s statement of 17 April 2026, and the FMA’s statements on KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, read 29 October 2026. Supervisory positions change; confirm on the ESMA register and with the FMA, and consult qualified counsel for your situation.
Know before a regulator does.
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