Can you still buy USDT in Europe?

The rules behind this decide who may issue and offer a stablecoin in the EU, not who may own one. This page explains how licensed platforms dropped USDT, how to check any stablecoin yourself and what holders can still do.

USDT at a glance

USDT is a stablecoin designed to stay at one US dollar. It is issued by Tether International, S.A. de C.V., a company registered in El Salvador and authorised there as a stablecoin issuer by the National Commission of Digital Assets (CNAD). No EU regulator has authorised it.

Tether's transparency page says every token is backed one-to-one by its reserves and that the issuer's assets exceed its liabilities. In its report for the second quarter of 2026, with an attestation from the accounting firm BDO, Tether put its assets at about US$187.8 billion on 30 June 2026, against liabilities of about US$183.6 billion.

The same page showed roughly 184 billion USDT in circulation on 16 October 2026. About 93 billion of that sat on TRON and about 86 billion on Ethereum, with smaller amounts on chains such as Solana. Tether treats a token on one chain as equal to a token on any other, but it has stopped issuing USDT on several older chains, including Omni, EOS and Algorand.

Why MiCA-licensed platforms dropped USDT

MiCA calls a crypto-asset that tracks a single official currency an e-money token. Since 30 June 2024, Article 48 has allowed only the token's issuer, authorised in the EU as a bank or an electronic money institution, to offer one to the public or seek its admission to trading, unless that issuer gives written consent to someone else. Tether is not in ESMA's list of e-money token issuers, in the version of 7 October 2026 that we checked on 16 October 2026.

ESMA's statements do not name individual coins. The platforms do, as the timeline shows:

The opinion of 8 October 2026 goes further than the statement of January 2025, which had said that holding and transferring these tokens should remain possible. ESMA now considers that warnings or client acknowledgements cannot make up for the missing safeguards at issuer level. It asks national regulators to require providers to clear remaining client holdings within three months of publication. Until then, only selling, conversion, withdrawal, transfer or safekeeping of existing holdings is meant to continue.

How to check a stablecoin's status yourself

You can verify any stablecoin in a few minutes, without relying on an exchange's word:

1. Identify the issuer. The token's white paper or website names the legal entity that issues it.
2. Open ESMA's interim MiCA register. Download the file of e-money token issuers from ESMA's MiCA page and search for that company. Each row lists the regulator, the home country, the date of authorisation and a link to the white paper.
3. Mind the other category. A stablecoin that tracks a basket or a commodity is an asset-referenced token, with its own file. In the version of 7 October 2026 that file listed no issuers at all.
4. Allow for a short delay. ESMA publishes a new version every week, so a very recent authorisation may show up in a national register first.

If you already hold USDT

Your options depend on where the tokens are:

• On a licensed exchange: expect a wind-down with a deadline. Coinbase has set 30 October 2026, OKX offers a one-way conversion into USDC, and Kraken allows withdrawals. Our fee guides for Coinbase, OKX, Kraken and Bitvavo cover what else each platform offers.
• In a self-custody wallet: nothing in MiCA stops you holding or sending USDT. Pick a network that both sides support, such as TRON to TRON, and see our guide to crypto wallets for how self-custody works.
• Redeeming with Tether: only verified customers can redeem directly. Tether's fee page sets a minimum of US$100,000, a fee of US$1,000 or 0.1% (whichever is higher) and a non-refundable verification fee of 150 USDT. By contrast, MiCA gives holders of an authorised e-money token the right to redeem at any time, at face value and free of charge.
• Tax: Coinbase warns that converting one crypto-asset into another may be taxable in some countries. Rules differ across the EU, so check with your national tax authority.

Offshore exchanges that still list USDT

Some platforms outside the EU may still offer USDT to people living here. ESMA has reminded providers based outside the EU that they may not provide MiCA services to EU clients or solicit them, apart from the narrow case where a client approaches them entirely on their own initiative. It also warns that clients of unauthorised providers do not benefit from MiCA's safeguards, including the protection of client assets.

Before opening an account anywhere, look the company up in ESMA's register and on your national regulator's warning list. Our overview of MiCA-licensed exchanges shows the authorisation behind each platform we compare, and our page on Binance alternatives explains what the end of the transitional period means for unlicensed platforms.

The alternatives in our comparison

We compare two stablecoins whose issuer is authorised under MiCA, both from Circle:

• USDC tracks the US dollar, like USDT.
• EURC tracks the euro, so its value in euros does not depend on the dollar exchange rate.

Our stablecoins overview sets out how they differ. An authorised issuer does not remove every risk: the EU's financial supervisors point out that stablecoins may not stay stable over time, especially when markets are under stress. For how we calculate the cost of buying on each platform, see how we compare.