A stablecoin offered to EU users must have an authorised issuer and a published, approved white paper. Tether did not seek MiCA authorisation for USDT, so exchanges restricted or delisted it for EEA users during 2024–2025. Compliant tokens such as USDC, EURC and EUROe remain available.
The two categories: EMT and ART
- EMT — e-money token. References a single official currency (a euro or dollar token). Must be issued by a licensed e-money institution or credit institution. USDC and EURC are issued as EMTs.
- ART — asset-referenced token. References a basket of currencies, commodities or crypto-assets, and needs its own dedicated authorisation. The EBA leads supervision of significant ARTs.
Is USDT banned in the EU?
There is no user-level ban on holding USDT. What MiCA restricts is offering a non-compliant stablecoin to EU users — so licensed exchanges delisted or restricted USDT trading pairs for EEA customers. You can still self-custody it; you will just find few regulated EU venues that list it. For euro-based trading, compliant alternatives (USDC, EURC, EUROe) fill the role.
What to do with existing USDT
- Check whether your venue still supports USDT withdrawals for EEA accounts — most wind-downs keep withdrawals open.
- Converting to a compliant token (or fiat) on a MiCA-licensed exchange avoids being stuck on an unregulated venue.
- Statuses change — verify against the ESMA register ↗ and each issuer’s white-paper notifications.
Related reading: the full regulation walkthrough is in What is MiCA?, and the exchange-by-exchange picture is in the register.