<p><strong>Buying USDT</strong> in the EU is no longer possible on any of the seven major platforms we checked on 1 November 2026. Bitpanda, Kraken, Coinbase, Bitvavo, OKX, Bybit EU and Trade Republic no longer sell Tether's stablecoin to customers in the European Economic Area. The reason is the EU's MiCA regulation: USDT has no authorisation as an e-money token, and since 8 October 2026 the European securities regulator ESMA has expected licensed providers to stop all services around such tokens, by 8 January 2027 at the latest. Holding USDT remains legal. If you want a dollar stablecoin in the EU, the licensed choice is USDC; if you think in euros, it is EURC. This guide shows what each platform still allows, what buying and transferring cost, and which route to USDT remains open.</p>
<p><em>Note: some links in this guide are affiliate links and are marked as advertisements. If you open an account through them, CryptoTicker receives a commission. The price stays the same for you.</em></p>
<p><strong>Key points at a glance</strong></p>
<ul>
 <li><strong>No purchase at EU platforms:</strong> none of the seven platforms we checked lets customers in the EEA buy USDT as of 1 November 2026.</li>
 <li><strong>ESMA deadline:</strong> opinion of 8 October 2026, clean-up by 8 January 2027 at the latest. After that, only time-limited residual services such as selling and withdrawing remain.</li>
 <li><strong>Holding stays legal:</strong> the opinion is addressed to providers, not to private individuals.</li>
 <li><strong>Alternative USDC:</strong> licensed e-money token, classified on 14 October 2026 as the EU's first "significant" one. Market cap $71.7 billion, USDT $179.9 billion (CoinMarketCap, 1 November 2026).</li>
 <li><strong>Spread measured:</strong> USDC against the euro 0.011% at Kraken, Coinbase and Bybit EU, 0.022% at Bitvavo.</li>
 <li><strong>Network fee measured:</strong> a USDT transfer on Tron burns 6.43 TRX, about $1.95, without staked energy. On Ethereum it cost $0.01 to $0.15 on average.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="how-to-buy-usdt-on-1-november-2026-seven-platforms-checked">How to buy USDT on 1 November 2026: seven platforms checked</h2>
<p>None of the platforms we checked will sell you USDT today. Most of them switched off long before the ESMA deadline, Bitvavo as early as January 2025.</p>
<table>
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th>Platform</th>
   <th>Buy USDT</th>
   <th>What still works with USDT</th>
   <th>Since</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>Bitpanda</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>buying and swapping into USDT disabled, according to <a href="https://www.trendingtopics.eu/bitpanda-usdt/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitpanda's statement to Trending Topics</a></td>
   <td>3 February 2025</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Kraken</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>delisted in the EEA, withdrawals only, according to <a href="https://support.kraken.com/articles/stablecoin-offerings-for-eea-clients" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kraken's help page on stablecoins in the EEA</a></td>
   <td>2025</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Coinbase</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>remaining balances converted to USDC, according to <a href="https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/other-topics/other/mica-restricted-stablecoins" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coinbase's help page on MiCA non-compliant stablecoins</a></td>
   <td>30 October 2026</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Bitvavo</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>switched off, remaining balances converted to USDC on 4 February 2025, according to <a href="https://bitvavo.com/en/news/delist-usdt" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitvavo's announcement</a></td>
   <td>31 January 2025</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>OKX</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>deposits accepted only for a one-way conversion into USDC, according to <a href="https://www.okx.com/en-eu/help/usdt-one-way-convert" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">OKX's help page on the USDT conversion</a></td>
   <td>conversion since 17 July 2026</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Bybit EU</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>no tradable USDT pair, stablecoins are offered as USDC and EURC</td>
   <td>as of 1 November 2026</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Trade Republic</td>
   <td>no</td>
   <td>not among the 49 crypto assets in <a href="https://app.traderepublic.com/browse/crypto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Trade Republic's product list</a></td>
   <td>as of 1 November 2026</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
<p>For existing balances, the routes differ: at Kraken you can still withdraw USDT, at OKX you can convert it into USDC, and at Coinbase and Bitvavo your balance has long been USDC. Which exchanges hold a MiCA licence is covered in our <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/comparison/best-regulated-exchange/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">comparison of regulated crypto exchanges</a>. Binance does not belong in this list: it is not in ESMA's MiCA register and paused withdrawals after the hack of 29 October 2026. Licensed exchanges are listed in our guide to <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/binance-alternatives/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Binance alternatives</a>.</p>
<h2 id="why-you-can-no-longer-buy-usdt-in-the-eu-the-esma-opinion">Why you can no longer buy USDT in the EU: the ESMA opinion</h2>
<p>Tether has no authorisation for USDT as an e-money token in the EU. ESMA concludes that licensed providers should no longer offer any services around this token, from trading to custody.</p>
<p>The core sentence of the <a href="https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2026-10/ESMA75-113276571-1742_Opinion_on_the_provision_of_crypto_asset_services_in_relation_to_non-MiCA-compliant_asset-referenced_tokens_and_e-money_tokens.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ESMA opinion of 8 October 2026</a> is paragraph 12: crypto-asset service providers "should not provide crypto-asset services" in relation to <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/charts/stablecoins/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stablecoins</a> that do not comply with MiCA. Paragraph 21 lists trading, exchange, order execution, advice, transfers, custody and portfolio management. Under paragraph 19, warnings to clients are not enough.</p>
<p>Under paragraph 24, residual services for existing holdings remain allowed: selling, conversion, withdrawal, transfer and safekeeping, but no new purchases. Under paragraph 27, national supervisors should require the clean-up "as soon as possible" and no later than three months after publication, which is 8 January 2027. The document contains no ban for private individuals. More on this is in our article on the <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/esma-stablecoin-deadline-usdt-exit/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ESMA stablecoin deadline</a>, and what Tether actually is in <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/what-is-tether-usdt-stablecoin-explained/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">What is Tether (USDT)?</a></p>
<figure><img src="https://cryptoticker-strapi-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/usdt_kaufen_2_1d10be2bb7.webp" alt="A brass turnstile in a bright marble hall, with an open exit in the background" width="1920" height="1080">
 <figcaption>
  On EU platforms, USDT only has an exit left: selling, converting, withdrawing. Illustration, AI-generated
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="tether-in-your-own-wallet-the-route-via-usdc">Tether in your own wallet: the route via USDC</h2>
<p>Technically, you can still get USDT: you buy USDC on a licensed exchange, withdraw it to your own wallet and swap it there on a decentralised exchange. This is legal, but no supervisor protects you along the way. Check first whether you really need USDT: as a dollar stablecoin in your account, USDC does the job, and USDT only makes sense if a recipient outside the EU asks for exactly this token.</p>
<ol>
 <li><strong>Buy USDC on a MiCA exchange:</strong> open an account, verify your ID, deposit euros by SEPA and buy USDC.</li>
 <li><strong>Set up your own wallet:</strong> choose a wallet for the network you need and write the recovery phrase down on paper. Apps are compared in our <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/comparison/software-wallets/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">software wallet comparison</a>.</li>
 <li><strong>Choose the network and test first:</strong> withdraw USDC on the network your wallet and the recipient use, starting with a small amount. You need the network's own coin for fees, on Ethereum some ether.</li>
 <li><strong>Swap on a decentralised exchange:</strong> according to its <a href="https://developers.uniswap.org/docs/get-started/concepts/fees" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">overview of pool fees</a>, Uniswap usually charges 0.01% to 1% depending on the pool, plus the network fee. Check the minimum amount you receive before confirming, and only open the app via its official address.</li>
 <li><strong>Keep records:</strong> swapping USDC for USDT is a disposal for tax purposes in many countries. Note the date, amount and price.</li>
</ol>
<p>On this route there is no customer service and no chargeback, and a wrong network or a fake website costs you the balance. Exchanges without an EU licence often still list USDT, but they are not subject to European supervision.</p>
<p>For the first step, the four MiCA exchanges from our comparison are an option. <strong>Advertisement, for readers in the EU:</strong><a href="https://bitpanda.pxf.io/c/2014360/3945313/15871?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bitpanda.com%2Fen" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Go to Bitpanda</a>, <strong>Advertisement:</strong><a href="https://kraken.pxf.io/anLQzo?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kraken.com%2F" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Go to Kraken</a>, <strong>Advertisement:</strong><a href="https://coinbase-consumer.sjv.io/c/2014360/3849612/9251" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Go to Coinbase</a>. Bitvavo is available at <a href="https://bitvavo.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the Bitvavo website</a>. Our assessment is in the reviews of <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/bitpanda/reviews/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitpanda</a> and <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/kraken/reviews/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kraken</a>.</p>
<h2 id="fees-and-spread-when-buying-usdt-via-usdc">Fees and spread when buying USDT via USDC</h2>
<p>The expensive part is not the spread but the exchange fee. We measured the gap between the buy and sell price of USDC against the euro in the order books on 1 November 2026 in the early hours.</p>
<table>
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th>Exchange</th>
   <th>Fee per purchase</th>
   <th>Fee on 1,000 euros</th>
   <th>Spread USDC/EUR</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>Bitvavo</td>
   <td>0.25%</td>
   <td>€2.50</td>
   <td>0.022%</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Bitpanda</td>
   <td>from 0.99%</td>
   <td>from €9.90</td>
   <td>broker without a public order book</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Kraken</td>
   <td>1%</td>
   <td>€10.00</td>
   <td>0.011%</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Coinbase</td>
   <td>up to 1.875% plus spread</td>
   <td>up to €18.75</td>
   <td>0.011% in the order book</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
<p>Fees from our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges, as of October 2026.</p>
<p>The exchange rate comes on top. On 1 November 2026, one USDC cost 0.8963 euros at Kraken, so 1,000 euros bought about 1,116 USDC before fees. If the euro rises by 5% against the dollar, a balance worth 1,000 euros loses about 48 euros, even though the token keeps its dollar peg.</p>
<h2 id="withdrawing-usdt-which-network-to-choose-and-what-a-transfer-costs">Withdrawing USDT: which network to choose and what a transfer costs</h2>
<p>USDT runs on more than ten blockchains, and according to <a href="https://tether.to/en/transparency/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tether's transparency page</a> the largest amounts sit on Tron and Ethereum. What matters is that sender and recipient use the same network, otherwise the funds may be lost. We measured the costs on real transfers during the night of 1 November 2026, on 15 transfers on Tron and twice 25 on Ethereum.</p>
<table>
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th>Network</th>
   <th>Cost per USDT transfer</th>
   <th>What you need in your wallet</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>Tron (TRC-20)</td>
   <td>to an address that already holds USDT 64,285 energy, without staked energy 6.43 TRX (about $1.95); to a new address 13.03 TRX (about $3.96); plus 0.345 TRX bandwidth once the free allowance is used up</td>
   <td>TRX or staked energy</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Ethereum (ERC-20)</td>
   <td>41,309 to 63,221 gas, on average $0.01 in the first and $0.15 in the second sample, peak $0.72</td>
   <td>some ether</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
<p>Prices: TRX $0.3038, ether $2,253 (CoinMarketCap, 1 November 2026).</p>
<p>On Tron, only one of 15 senders actually paid TRX, the others had staked or rented energy. On Ethereum, the average cost rose more than tenfold within seven minutes, because it moves with network load. The exchange also charges its own withdrawal fee, shown in the withdrawal form. Do not send USDT to an account at an EU exchange: Coinbase no longer credits such deposits, Kraken advises against them and OKX only converts them into USDC.</p>
<h2 id="usdc-and-eurc-the-mica-compliant-alternatives-to-usdt">USDC and EURC: the MiCA-compliant alternatives to USDT</h2>
<p>USDC is the licensed dollar stablecoin in the EU, EURC its euro counterpart. Circle issues both through Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS in France as e-money tokens under MiCA. All major EU exchanges list USDC, and EURC is available at Kraken, Bitvavo and Bybit EU, among others.</p>
<p>The European Banking Authority classified USDC on 14 October 2026 as the <a href="https://www.eba.europa.eu/publications-and-media/press-releases/eba-classifies-usdc-first-significant-e-money-token-european-union" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">EU's first significant e-money token</a>, out of 45 notified, and will supervise its reserve and own funds directly from 12 November 2026; details in <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/eba-usdc-stablecoin-supervision/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">USDC under EBA supervision</a>. The key difference to USDT is in Article 49 of the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1114/oj" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">MiCA regulation</a>: holders of a licensed e-money token can redeem it with the issuer at any time, at par value and free of charge. In the EU, USDT holders have no such claim.</p>
<p>If you think in euros, EURC removes the currency risk. With a market value of about $450 million, however, the token is small, and the spread shows it: on 1 November 2026 it was 0.02% at Bybit EU, 0.05% at Kraken and 0.17% at Bitvavo. Other tokens are compared in our <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/comparison/stablecoin-list/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stablecoin list</a>, and the choice between the two dollar tokens in <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/usdt-or-usdc-which-to-hold/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">USDT or USDC</a>.</p>
<figure><img src="https://cryptoticker-strapi-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/usdt_kaufen_3_8918329296.webp" alt="Railway tracks at a junction at dusk, splitting into two directions, one lit warm and one lit cool" width="1920" height="1080">
 <figcaption>
  USDC or EURC: choosing between dollar and euro decides the currency risk. Illustration, AI-generated
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="risks-of-buying-usdt-freezes-by-tether-and-the-dollar-peg">Risks of buying USDT: freezes by Tether and the dollar peg</h2>
<p>USDT carries two risks in every wallet: Tether can block addresses, and the dollar peg is a promise made by the issuer.</p>
<p>The USDT contract contains a blocklist. After the Binance hack of 29 October 2026, Tether froze <a href="https://x.com/paoloardoino/status/2115918000373346709" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">more than 1.567 billion USDT</a>, according to CEO Paolo Ardoino. The addresses hit are those that investigators link to theft or sanctions; how this works technically is shown in <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/tether-freeze-usdt-binance-hack-how-much-frozen/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">USDT frozen</a>. The peg held on 1 November 2026 at $0.9988 according to CoinMarketCap. USDT is backed by reserves that Tether reports itself; there is no state guarantee or deposit insurance. In its early years, the token fell as low as $0.57, according to CoinGecko.</p>
<h2 id="usdt-and-tax-every-swap-counts">USDT and tax: every swap counts</h2>
<p>In Germany, swapping one crypto asset for another counts as a disposal under Section 23 of the Income Tax Act, including a swap from USDC into USDT. A gain is taxable if the purchase was less than a year ago and the year's gains reach the 1,000-euro exemption limit. With stablecoins, the gain usually comes from the euro-dollar exchange rate, and the one-year period starts again for every newly received token.</p>
<p>A draft bill dated 30 September 2026 would scrap the one-year rule for newly bought crypto; the cabinet did not adopt it on 14 October 2026. What a forced stablecoin conversion means for tax is explained in <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/coinbase-usdt-usdc-conversion-tax-holding-period/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coinbase converts USDT into USDC</a>, and tools that track every swap are compared in our <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/comparison/crypto-tax-software/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">crypto tax software comparison</a>. Rules differ by country, and this guide is not tax advice.</p>
<h2 id="usdt-after-8-january-2027-what-applies-then">USDT after 8 January 2027: what applies then</h2>
<p>From 8 January 2027, licensed providers in the EU should only wind down USDT: selling, conversion, withdrawal, transfer and safekeeping of existing holdings, time-limited and under close supervision. Holding, receiving and sending USDT in your own wallet remain legal. If you hold USDT there and later want euros, you need an extra step, such as swapping into USDC on a decentralised exchange and then selling on a licensed exchange.</p>
<h2 id="our-assessment-buying-usdt-hardly-pays-off-for-eu-investors">Our assessment: buying USDT hardly pays off for EU investors</h2>
<p>For investors in the EU, USDC is the obvious dollar stablecoin: the same dollar peg, a legal right to redemption at par and direct EBA supervision from 12 November 2026. You can buy it on every major EU exchange at a spread of 0.011% to 0.022%.</p>
<p>USDT's strength lies outside Europe: at a market value of $179.9 billion, it is two and a half times the size of USDC. If you need it for a payment or a trading venue outside the EU, you can get it via your own wallet and carry the risk yourself. If you think in euros, consider EURC or simply euros in a bank account, where deposit insurance applies.</p>
<p>Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile, and a total loss is possible. This guide is not investment advice.</p>

How to Buy USDT in the EU: 7 Platforms Checked, What Still Works

Table of Contents

CryptoTicker ENG

Other articles published on Nov 1, 2026

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!