Kraken, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, is adjusting its operations in Europe to align with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). As part of this compliance effort, the exchange has announced plans to delist five stablecoins, including Tether’s USDT.
Kraken Phases Out USDT and Other Stablecoins
According to an official statement, Kraken will completely remove support for USDT by March 31, 2025. In addition to Tether’s flagship stablecoin, the exchange will also discontinue support for PayPal USD (PYUSD), Tether EURt (EURT), TrueUSD (TUSD), and TerraClassicUSD (UST) within the European market.
Kraken emphasized that these changes are necessary to remain compliant with European regulations and continue offering a seamless trading experience to its European clientele.
Structured Delisting Timeline
To ensure a smooth transition, Kraken is implementing a gradual approach to removing the affected stablecoins, in line with guidelines from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
- February 13, 2025: Kraken will set margin pairs involving these assets to “reduce-only” mode for European Economic Area (EEA) users, allowing them to only decrease or close existing margin positions.
- February 27, 2025: The affected tokens will enter “sell-only” mode, meaning EEA customers will no longer be able to generate new deposit addresses but will still have access to trading options.
- March 24, 2025: All spot trading for these stablecoins will be suspended, and any open orders or conversions into other cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies will be closed.
- March 31, 2025: Any remaining balances of the delisted stablecoins will be automatically converted into an equivalent MiCA-compliant stablecoin.
Kraken clarified that after the final deadline, any deposits made to existing addresses for these assets will only be eligible for withdrawal.
The delisting will exclusively affect clients in the EEA, which includes 30 countries such as Austria, Cyprus, Czechia, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
ESMA’s Push for Orderly Delistings
Kraken’s decision follows a similar move by Crypto.com, which recently announced that it would delist USDT along with nine other stablecoins by January 31, 2025. Crypto.com is giving users until the end of Q1 2025 to convert their holdings into MiCA-compliant alternatives. Any remaining noncompliant stablecoins will be automatically exchanged for a compliant equivalent.
The ESMA has been actively guiding crypto asset service providers (CASPs) to begin restricting noncompliant stablecoins to prevent market instability. The agency has emphasized the need for an orderly transition, advising firms to start with a “sell-only” phase before complete removal.
Kraken and Crypto.com are among the first major exchanges in the EU to implement these MiCA-driven delistings. Last year, Coinbase also took similar steps by removing eight noncompliant tokens, including USDT, in December 2024.
As regulations continue to shape the European crypto landscape, exchanges are adapting to ensure compliance while minimizing disruption for users.
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