OKX acquires MiFID II license in Europe, prepares to offer regulated derivatives

OKX now holds a MiFID II license for the European Union, after acquiring a locally registered company. With that move, OKX will be able to offer a wider selection of derivative products to traders from the Euro Area.

OKX Europe will gain a MiFID II license for operating in the Euro Area, after acquiring a company already registered with Malta’s financial authorities. Acquisitions have been the main approach of exchange operators in becoming compliant with EU financial regulations. 

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive regulation is one of the key documents setting up the requirements for crypto exchanges. Recently, Kraken also acquired a MiFID license through the acquisition of a Cyprus investment firm. 

📣 Derivatives on deck 📣

We're proud to announce that we’ve acquired a MiFID II license in Europe.

Upon regulatory approval, our MiCA-licensed and localized exchange will offer derivatives to institutional clients across the EU.

Learn more: https://t.co/xswBXeyCSF pic.twitter.com/Z7p7tcOuMe

— OKX (@okx) March 12, 2025

OKX announced the acquisition during an official event in Malta. OKX aims to expand during the current market cycle, by reaching traders of all levels. 

The exchange has already become the first market operator to become compliant with the Markets in Crypto-Asset (MiCA) Regulation, receiving a pre-authorization status. Currently, OKX is working toward becoming fully MiCA compliant. 

OKX aims to reach all 28 countries in the European Union, bringing OTC, spot trading, automated, and copy-trading for over 240 tokens in 300 trading pairs. OKX also offers fiat-based pairs against the Euro. 

The main effect of the MiFID license will be the introduction of advanced derivatives and futures markets. OKX will be able to serve institutional clients with sophisticated trading tools. The exchange is also working toward localization in multiple European languages. 

The customers of OKX will also be able to deposit and withdraw Euro at no cost through a Euro Area bank transfer. The exchange will offer crypto purchases using cards and other localized payment methods.

As a MiFID platform, OKX will offer easier KYC verification, with access to more diverse payment gateways. OKX will continue to announce the new features as they become active. 

Exchanges target Euro Area for growth

OKX is one of the leading exchanges based on trust score. The market operator carried volumes of $3.7B and lined up among the most active centralized markets. 

Most of the traffic for OKX comes from outside the Euro Area. Visitors from Brazil are the most active, followed by US traders making up 8.2% of site visits. OKX also services crypto-friendly regions and countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, and Turkey. 

The recent acquisition aims to expand the services of OKX to a new and highly active crypto market. While smaller, the European market is well-regulated. During the latest bull cycle, investors from Germany, France, and the UK joined some of the latest trends, including memes and prediction markets on Polymarket. 

EU countries have a lower rank in terms of crypto adoption, lagging behind the USA, as revealed by Chainalysis data. Despite this, OKX aims to tap Europe as a growth market, with increasing crypto adoption. Up to 30.7M European traders have some contact with the crypto market, or non-zero holdings. Major exchanges aim to bring reliable services and a fully regulated market with compliant stablecoin pairings. 

OKX investigated for the laundering of the Bybit hack funds

OKX has been scrutinized for its decentralized services, especially its Web3 wallet. During the Bybit hack, the decentralized service was used to launder a part of the funds, which OKX did not block or freeze. Decentralized services and wallets are still a gray area for regulators, but may be one of the new areas to include under the MiCA compliance requirements.

The OKX Web3 wallet is borderless and permissionless, serving as an aggregator and access point to decentralized trading. The ability to scrutinize and freeze transactions remains limited. OKX has only partnered by freezing and blacklisting funds through its centralized exchange. OKX claims its decentralized service is not a part of the exchange’s main product package. 

Currently, the service is under investigation in the EU. While OKX Europe is allowed to offer basic services from its Malta headquarters, the investigation of its DEX and Web3 unit may lead to a loss of permission for some operations in the Euro Area.

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