Tether abandons Europe as MiCA ban wipes USDT from exchanges

The European Union has completed its MiCA transition, leaving Tether’s $186 billion USDT without a compliant route onto regulated crypto exchanges across the bloc from July 1, 2026.

According to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, the transition period has now ended, requiring regulated crypto platforms to support only compliant stablecoins.

As a result, MiCA-licensed exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com have removed USDT trading for European users, ending the stablecoin’s presence on regulated order books despite its position as the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization.

Tether rejected MiCA authorization over reserve requirements

Rather than applying for authorization as an electronic money token (EMT), Tether decided not to pursue MiCA approval. CEO Paolo Ardoino previously argued that the regulation’s reserve rules create systemic risk because issuers must keep at least 60% of reserves in European bank deposits.

Tether’s reserve strategy instead relies heavily on U.S. Treasury securities and other globally diversified assets, making the MiCA framework incompatible with its existing model.

The company’s withdrawal from the European market had been unfolding well before the final deadline. Tether discontinued its euro-pegged EURT stablecoin in 2024, while exchange support for USDT gradually disappeared over the following months.

Coinbase Europe delisted the token in December 2024, Crypto.com followed in January 2025, Binance restricted European USDT trading pairs in March 2025, and Kraken first moved users to a sell-only model before later ending support entirely.

Data on MiCA adoption also illustrates how selective the licensing process has been. Before the July 1 deadline, only 244 MiCA licenses had been issued across the European Union, while several crypto companies opted to expand operations from jurisdictions such as Dubai instead of seeking authorization under the bloc’s new framework.

USDC strengthens its position while Tether keeps European partnerships

As Tether stepped away from the licensing process, Circle took the opposite approach by securing an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license in France. The authorization can be passported across all 27 European Union member states, allowing both USDC and EURC to operate under MiCA. Their compliant status has made them the primary dollar- and euro-backed stablecoins available on licensed European trading platforms.

The transition has also forced liquidity providers to adjust. According to the report, market makers that previously quoted USDT pairs have begun rebuilding liquidity around USDC because regulated exchanges can no longer offer USDT trading within the European Union.

Even so, Tether has not completely exited the region’s digital asset ecosystem. Companies including StablR and Oobit have launched MiCA-compliant stablecoins, EURR and USDR, using Tether’s Hadron tokenization platform, allowing the company to maintain technology partnerships without issuing a MiCA-approved stablecoin itself.

Elsewhere in Europe, 37 banks including BNP Paribas and ING are developing a common euro stablecoin known as Qivalis, according to the report. The project seeks to provide a regulated euro-denominated alternative as financial institutions increase their participation in the digital asset market.

Recent exchange data also points to changing user behavior beyond Europe. As previously reported by crypto.news, Bybit and OKX disclosed higher user Bitcoin holdings in their latest Proof of Reserves reports, while USDT balances declined on both platforms, suggesting some users are holding less stablecoin liquidity.

In a separate crypto.news report, India’s USDT premium climbed above 8.5% after enforcement action against crypto remittance firms disrupted domestic supplies of the stablecoin, highlighting how regional regulations continue to reshape USDT markets in different ways.