What the public record shows.
KuCoin is the case that breaks the mental model most people use for “is this exchange allowed in Europe”. A MiCA authorisation and a supervisory restriction are different instruments, issued at different times, and one does not cancel the other. Here are the facts, each with its source and the date it was published.
The FMA states that it “granted KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH an authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider on 27.11.2025”, and that at that time the key functions of Anti-Money-Laundering Officer and Sanctions Compliance Officer and their deputies were filled in accordance with MiCAR and the Austrian Financial Markets Anti-Money Laundering Act (FM-GwG). Source: FMA statement, 18 May 2026.
NorthPoint commits a dated copy of ESMA’s registers with each build. Our snapshot of the register of authorised CASPs — ESMA file dated 23 July 2026, 309 distinct entity/competent-authority pairs across 312 rows — contains KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, competent authority Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), home member state AT, LEI 529900B4G0EGK7Z9KT45, notification date 27 November 2025. Our snapshot of ESMA’s register of non-compliant entities — file dated 13 July 2026, 159 entities — contains no entry whose name matches KuCoin. That is a statement about two dated files, not a determination of any firm’s status. See our dated register change log for every movement we have recorded.
Per the FMA’s 18 May 2026 statement, an administrative decision dated 18 February 2026 under the MiCAR Enforcement Act (MiCA-VVG) means the commencement of business operations remains inadmissible, because conditions under supervisory law had not yet been fully met — the FMA points “in particular” to governance requirements and the filling of additional key functions in the senior management.
The FMA ordered a prohibition on conducting new business on 19 February 2026 after the AML Officer and Sanctions Compliance Officer key functions and their deputies were no longer filled. It states those functions “have once again been filled in an orderly manner”, with the effect that this prohibition was lifted on 18 May 2026. Contemporaneous reporting of the February measure: CoinDesk, 23 February 2026. The lifting of one measure did not lift the other.
What the FMA said — in its own words.
This is the authoritative text on this entity. It is quoted verbatim so you can read the regulator rather than anyone’s summary of it, including ours.
“FMA lifts ban on new business for KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, however commencement of business operations remains prohibited”
“The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) granted KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH an authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider on 27.11.2025. At that time, the key functions of Anti-Money-Laundering Officer (AML Officer) and Sanctions Compliance Officer and their respective deputies, were filled in accordance with the EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCAR) and the Financial Markets Anti-Money Laundering Act (FM-GwG; Finanzmarkt-Geldwäschegesetz). Since that was subsequently no longer the case, the FMA ordered the prohibition on conducting new business on 19.02.2026. In the meantime, the key functions listed above have once again been filled in an orderly manner, with the effect that the prohibition of new business was lifted on 18.05.2026.”
“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.”
Quoted from the FMA’s English-language statement dated 18 May 2026. That is the most recent FMA statement on this entity we located as at 27 July 2026; read it in full on fma.gv.at for the authoritative wording, and check the FMA’s news and company database for anything published since.
Why “on the register” and “open for business” are two different questions.
This is the transferable lesson, and it applies to every provider you check — not just this one. An authorisation is granted once and stays on the ESMA register until it is withdrawn. A supervisory measure is issued separately by the national competent authority, can be imposed and lifted while the authorisation stays exactly where it is, and is published by the NCA rather than in the ESMA register entry.
| The question | The authoritative source |
|---|---|
| Is the entity authorised under MiCA? | The ESMA register of authorised CASPs, plus the home NCA’s own register. Here: the FMA, Austria. |
| 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. Nothing on a register answers this. |
This is general information, not legal, financial, or investment advice, and not a determination of any firm’s authorisation status. For your situation, read the provider’s own current EU service notices and confirm the authorised entity on the ESMA register.
How to verify any provider’s status yourself.
The same three-step check works for any exchange or wallet — and it is the only reliable way to answer “is X still available” for your own account.
Look up the provider’s legal entity on ESMA’s register of authorised CASPs, and on the relevant national competent authority’s register. If the entity that serves you is listed, that is the authoritative confirmation of the licence. If it is not listed, that is what the register says on that date — nothing more and nothing less.
This case is the reason the step exists. The licence line on the ESMA register would not have told you that a February decision was still restricting the commencement of business operations in May. The home NCA publishes its measures; read them alongside the register entry.
A global brand often operates several legal entities, and only some of them may hold an authorisation. Confirm the specific entity named in your account terms is the one on the register — a group-level announcement is not the same thing. Then read the provider’s own EU notices for what changes for your assets and your country.
If you market a crypto service into the EU, this cuts the other way.
The flip side of users asking “is this provider authorised” is that every provider’s marketing is now held to the MiCA standard. Under Article 88, 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 run marketing into the EU, the routes below show how to check a live asset before it ships.
| 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. | Self-Audit Suite → |
| 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. | Launch Audit → |
Frequently asked questions.
Is KuCoin MiCA-authorised?
An entity called KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH appears on NorthPoint's committed snapshot of ESMA's register of authorised CASPs — the ESMA file dated 23 July 2026, carrying 309 distinct entity/competent-authority pairs across 312 rows — with the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) as competent authority, home member state AT, LEI 529900B4G0EGK7Z9KT45 and a notification date of 27 November 2025. The FMA states in its own words that it “granted KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH an authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider on 27.11.2025”. That is a statement about a dated register file and a published regulator statement, not a determination by NorthPoint of any firm's status, and it says nothing about the wider KuCoin group: an authorisation attaches to the named legal entity, not to a brand. Confirm the current entry on the ESMA register and with the FMA.
Can I use KuCoin in the EU right now?
This page does not answer that, because the operative source is the firm's own current EU notices for your country and product. What we can point at is the regulator's published position. In its statement dated 18 May 2026 the FMA said the prohibition on conducting new business it had ordered on 19 February 2026 was lifted that day, and that “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”. That is the most recent FMA statement on this entity we located, and a supervisory position can change without notice to us. Read the FMA's statement and KuCoin's own EU notices before relying on any specific service.
What did Austria's FMA actually restrict, and when?
Two separate measures, on two dates, per the FMA's own statement of 18 May 2026. First, an administrative decision dated 18 February 2026 under the MiCAR Enforcement Act, under which the commencement of business operations remains inadmissible; the FMA links this to conditions under supervisory law that have not yet been fully met, “in particular” governance requirements and the filling of additional key functions in the senior management. Second, a prohibition on conducting new business ordered on 19 February 2026, after the Anti-Money-Laundering Officer and Sanctions Compliance Officer key functions and their deputies were no longer filled; the FMA says those functions “have once again been filled in an orderly manner” and that this second prohibition was lifted on 18 May 2026. NorthPoint quotes the regulator and does not characterise the firm's conduct or the authority's intentions.
How do I check KuCoin's current EU status myself?
Three sources, in this order. First, ESMA's register of authorised CASPs — look up the specific legal entity named in your account terms, not the brand. Second, the register and news pages of the national competent authority, here Austria's FMA, because supervisory measures against an authorised firm are published by the NCA and do not necessarily remove the firm from the ESMA register. Third, the provider's own current EU service notices, which are the only source that tells you what is available in your country, for your product, today. This is general information, not legal advice.
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.
This page is 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, decisions, or any authority’s intentions. The facts stated — the 27 November 2025 authorisation, the 18 February 2026 administrative decision, the 19 February 2026 new-business prohibition and its lifting on 18 May 2026, and the presence of KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH on NorthPoint’s committed ESMA register snapshot (authorised file dated 23 July 2026; non-compliant file dated 13 July 2026) — are drawn from the FMA’s published statement, contemporaneous reporting, and dated register files at a point in time, and can change. Confirm the current entry on the ESMA register of authorised CASPs, check the FMA’s own published measures, read the provider’s own EU service notices, and consult qualified counsel for your situation.
Paste a banner, landing page, email, or post and check your own marketing against the full operator-grade MiCA rule pack — the same pack behind our Launch Audit — as self-serve tooling. General information, not legal advice, and not a determination of any firm’s status.