MiCA & Bybit
Guide to MiCA · no official or EU status
Reviewed
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Updated after the 1 July 2026 deadline

If you live in the EEA, the Bybit you knew is no longer available to you.

The MiCA transitional period ended on 1 July 2026. From that date an exchange needs a licence to serve EU clients, and Bybit split its business: a separate, Austrian-licensed platform for the EEA, and the global platform for everyone else. They are different companies with different product ranges, and an account on one is not an account on the other.

Worth knowing first: the EU platform does not offer perpetuals or options. If those are why you came, no link on this page will help you — skip to what Bybit EU cannot do.

Awaiting selection
Pick a country and this will show the right platform

Which Bybit entity may legally serve you depends entirely on where you live — and using the wrong one is not a technicality. Bybit's own agreement allows it to liquidate positions and freeze withdrawals for users it identifies in excluded jurisdictions.

What Bybit EU can and cannot do

This is the part most pages skip, and it is the thing most likely to matter to you. A MiCA licence covers spot services only. Derivatives sit under a different rulebook — MiFID II — which is a separate authorisation.

yesSpot trading — buying and selling crypto outright, covered by the MiCA authorisation.
yesSpot margin — reported at up to 10x. Confirm the current cap for your country, since national rules can restrict it.
yesCustody, transfers, Earn products and the Bybit Card, subject to availability in your country.
noPerpetual contracts and options. These are the products the global Bybit is best known for, and Bybit EU does not offer them. A MiFID II application has been made through an Austrian entity; until it is granted and shows on the national register, this stays a no.
noUSDT. Tether did not seek EU authorisation, so it cannot be listed on any compliant EU platform. Balances have to move into euros or an authorised stablecoin.

If perpetuals are the reason you were choosing Bybit, this is a genuine reason to look elsewhere, and you should. Very few venues hold both licences. It is worth checking which ones do before you commit to any platform.

Moving across, if you're in the EEA

  1. Register separately on the EU platform. Your global account does not carry over. You can reuse the same email or phone number.
  2. Complete identity verification again. It is a different legal entity, so it needs its own KYC.
  3. Close anything that can't come with you. Open derivative positions have no equivalent on the EU platform, and USDT balances need converting first.
  4. Move your funds, following the migration instructions on your account. Do this before any deadline in the notice you were sent, not on the day.
  5. Check the register yourself. Bybit EU GmbH is listed by the Austrian FMA. Two minutes on the ESMA register confirms it, and the same check works for any platform claiming to be EU regulated.

Questions people actually ask

Am I breaking the law by using an unlicensed exchange?
No. MiCA places its obligations on service providers, not on the people who use them. Fines and enforcement are aimed at the firm and its directors. What you lose is protection — segregated client assets, a liable counterparty if funds go missing, and a regulator you can escalate to. Pages that tell you otherwise are selling something.
Can I just use a VPN and keep the global account?
You can, and it's a bad idea. Bybit's service agreement bars misrepresenting your residency, and gives it the right to liquidate positions and freeze withdrawals of users it identifies in excluded jurisdictions. The risk isn't a warning email — it's being unable to get your money out.
Is Bybit EU actually licensed, or is that marketing?
Bybit EU GmbH holds a MiCA CASP authorisation from Austria's Financial Market Authority, granted in May 2025, with passporting across the EEA. You don't have to take that from this page — search the entity name on the ESMA register and read the authorised services for yourself.
What happened to Binance?
It withdrew its MiCA application in June 2026 and stopped serving EU retail clients on 1 July. It has signalled it will reapply elsewhere, but nothing is authorised until it appears on the register.
Why does this page recommend Bybit at all?
It doesn't, exactly. It tells you which entity may legally serve you, and it's upfront that the EU platform lacks the derivatives the global one is known for. The links here are referral links and pay this site a commission — that's disclosed at the bottom and it's the whole business model. If Bybit EU doesn't fit what you need, the honest answer is to use something else, and that answer is on this page too.