Binance Stops Tether USDT Trading in Europe to Comply with MiCA Regulations

Binance has removed spot trading pairs with Tether’s USDt in the European Economic Area (EEA) to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). This move follows Binance's plan, announced in early March, to delist spot trading pairs for several non-MiCA-compliant tokens in the EEA.

Although spot trading for tokens like USDt has been delisted, users in the EEA can still hold these tokens and trade them in perpetual contracts.

USDT is available for perpetual trading on Binance. Source: Binance

As per a prior announcement from Binance, spot trading pairs for non-MiCA-compliant tokens were set to be delisted by March 31, in accordance with a local mandate requiring such tokens to be removed by the end of the first quarter of 2025.

Binance isn’t the only exchange removing non-MiCA-compliant tokens from spot trading in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Exchanges like Kraken have also delisted spot trading pairs for tokens such as USDT in the EEA, after revealing their plans in February. Kraken’s website indicates that USDT was placed in sell-only mode for EEA users on March 24. Currently, Kraken does not allow EEA users to purchase the affected tokens.

Kraken restricted USDT to sell-only mode in the EEA on March 24. Source: Kraken

In addition to USDt, Binance has also removed spot trading pairs for other non-MiCA-compliant tokens, including Dai (DAI), First Digital USD (FDUSD), TrueUSD (TUSD), Pax Dollar (USDP), Anchored Euro (AEUR), TerraUSD (UST), TerraClassicUSD (USTC), and PAX Gold (PAXG).

Kraken’s delisting plan in the EEA only involved five tokens: USDT, PayPal USD (PYUSD), Tether EURt (EURT), TrueUSD, and TerraClassicUSD.

Binance and Kraken’s decision to continue offering custody services for non-MiCA-compliant tokens aligns with earlier statements from MiCA compliance authorities.

On March 5, a spokesperson for the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) clarified that providing custody and transfer services for non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins does not violate the new European crypto regulations. 

However, the regulator had also previously advised European crypto asset service providers to cease all transactions involving these tokens by March 31, leading to some confusion about the MiCA requirements.