Which exchanges hold a MiFID II licence in 2026?

The real exam

MiCA gets all the attention. But offering perpetuals, options or real stocks in the EU takes a different licence: MiFID II — the regime that has governed Europe's traditional exchanges and brokers for years.

The list of holders is short. We checked every claim against the registers of CySEC, the MFSA, the AFM, the FMA and the Bank of Lithuania, on 31 July 2026. It is directly below.

And read the second half of this page: holding a licence is not the same as doing something real with it. That is where the real story is.

Who holds one — the table

eToro (Europe) Ltd has held a CySEC broker licence for years (CIF 109/10), but offers no crypto derivatives in the EU today; its crypto runs as spot under MiCA.

Sources: the registers of CySEC, the AFM, the Bank of Lithuania and the FMA, plus the platforms' own announcements. As of 31 July 2026.

Licensed is not the same as real

This is the section that keeps the list honest.

OKX does not sell perpetuals. The “X-Perps” are futures with a five-year expiry and a perp name: no funding rate, but an end date. That is not from a critical report — it is on OKX's own product page. We explain the difference in perpetuals vs expiry futures.

Bitpanda's licence does no crypto. The oldest licence on the list (2021), but it runs equity derivatives — no perps.

Crypto.com has the licence and no product. Acquired in May 2025; nothing runs on it in the EU yet.

That leaves, as real perpetuals for retail, today: One Trading (April 2025), Kraken (May 2025), Backpack (September 2025) and Bitstamp via Robinhood (April 2026). Four names. That is the entire market.

The same question applies to tokenised stocks — real share or wrapper? See real stocks vs wrapper tokens.

Who does not hold one

Bybit filed an application in September 2025 (Bybit X GmbH, with Austria's FMA). An application is not a licence; until the FMA decides, Bybit stays out of the table.

Binance, Bitvavo, Bitget, MEXC, KuCoin and Gate: no licence and no known application. An EU customer trading perpetuals there does so outside European supervision — without the protections MiFID II enforces.

Why the list is so short

MiFID II is the toughest exam the EU has. Capital requirements from €125,000 to €730,000 depending on scope, an application process of well over a year, and standing obligations around best execution, reporting and investor protection.

Whoever does earn it operates under the same rulebook as Europe's traditional exchanges and brokers. That is exactly why it matters.

Check it yourself

1. Look up the legal entity in the exchange's terms — the brand says nothing, the entity says everything.
2. Check that entity in the supervisor's register (CySEC, MFSA, AFM, FMA, ATVP).
3. Check what the licence covers: “reception & transmission of orders” is not the same as “dealing on own account” — and a licence for equity derivatives is not a licence for perps.

Frequently asked questions