- An exchange may serve customers in Ireland only with a MiCA license from the Central Bank of Ireland or with a license from another EU country that covers Ireland. The Central Bank register shows the first kind; the ESMA register shows both.
- Kraken (Payward Europe Solutions Limited) is licensed in Ireland. Coinbase, Bitpanda, Revolut, Crypto.com, Bitstamp, Bybit EU, OKX, Gemini and Bitvavo serve Ireland with a license from another EU country.
- Fees differ a lot: from about 0.25% to about 1.5% for a simple purchase, and a spread often comes on top.
- Crypto is not covered by the Deposit Guarantee Scheme or the Investor Compensation Scheme. MiCA does require exchanges to keep customers’ crypto separate from their own assets.
This page compares the crypto exchanges that serve residents of Ireland and explains how to check one. We do not rank or recommend any exchange, and there are no affiliate links. Fees change often: the figures below are what each exchange published on its own pages on 7 October 2026. Whether a provider is licensed comes from the Central Bank of Ireland and ESMA registers. The rules behind this are on regulation.
Who may serve you
Under MiCA, nobody may provide crypto-asset services in the EU without a license (Articles 59 and 63) or a notification by an already regulated firm such as a bank (Article 60). A provider licensed in one EU country may serve the whole EU after notifying the other countries (passporting). The Central Bank of Ireland’s register lists the providers it has licensed itself: 12 on its run of 6 October 2026. For providers licensed elsewhere, the Central Bank tells consumers to check the ESMA register. The Irish transitional period for firms registered as virtual asset service providers ended on 29 December 2025.
These are the exchanges most used by consumers in the EU that may serve Ireland, with their license as shown in the ESMA register of 7 October 2026 and the Central Bank register:
| Exchange | Legal entity | Licensed by | Licensed or notified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitpanda | Bitpanda GmbH | FMA (Austria) | 9 April 2025 |
| Bitstamp | Bitstamp Europe S.A. | CSSF (Luxembourg) | 15 May 2025 |
| Bitvavo | Bitvavo B.V. | AFM (Netherlands) | 26 June 2025 |
| Bybit EU | Bybit EU GmbH | FMA (Austria) | 28 May 2025 |
| Coinbase | Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. | CSSF (Luxembourg) | 20 June 2025 |
| CoinJar | CoinJar Europe Limited | Central Bank of Ireland | 9 December 2025 |
| Crypto.com | Foris DAX MT Limited | MFSA (Malta) | 27 January 2025 |
| eToro | eToro (Europe) Ltd | CySEC (Cyprus) | 16 January 2025 |
| Gemini | Gemini Intergalactic EU Ltd | MFSA (Malta) | 21 August 2025 |
| Kraken | Payward Europe Solutions Limited (also Payward Global Solutions Limited) | Central Bank of Ireland | 25 June 2025 |
| KuCoin EU | KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH | FMA (Austria) | 27 November 2025 |
| N26 | N26 Bank SE (a bank, notification) | BaFin (Germany) | 14 May 2025 |
| OKX | OKX Europe Limited | MFSA (Malta) | 27 January 2025 |
| Revolut | Revolut Digital Assets (Europe) Ltd | CySEC (Cyprus) | 20 October 2025 |
| Trade Republic | Trade Republic Bank GmbH (a bank, notification) | BaFin (Germany) | 28 April 2025 |
The date is the date of the license or notification in the home country, as given in the ESMA register; it does not say when the provider started serving Ireland. In total the ESMA register of 7 October 2026 listed 12 active providers licensed in Ireland and 108 from other EU countries that may serve Ireland. Many of them are not exchanges for consumers but, for example, brokers, payment or custody firms. The other Irish-licensed providers include Interactive Brokers Ireland, Skrill and NETELLER (Paysafe Payment Solutions), Ramp, StoneX Digital International and Webot (Pionew Ireland).
Not in the register
- Binance, Bitget, Nexo and MEXC were not in the ESMA register of licensed providers on 7 October 2026.
- MEXC is on ESMA’s list of non-compliant entities, after the Dutch AFM found on 16 September 2025 that it served the Netherlands without a MiCA license. The Central Bank of Ireland had no entry on that list.
Since all transitional periods ended on 1 July 2026, the Central Bank warns that customers of unauthorized providers “do not benefit from the safeguards and protections of MiCAR”.
Fees compared
MiCA requires exchanges to publish their pricing, costs and fees “in a prominent place on their website” (Article 66(4)). The table shows what each exchange’s own pages said on 7 October 2026, for a normal customer at the lowest fee level. These EU entities publish the same fees for all EU customers unless stated. “Simple buy” is the buy button in the app; “advanced” is the order book (maker / taker). A spread is the difference between the buying and selling price and is an extra cost on top of the fee. “Not found” means we could not find or read the figure on the exchange’s own pages.
| Exchange | Simple buy | Advanced (maker / taker) | Euro withdrawal | Coins to your own wallet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitpanda | 0.99% for bitcoin, 1.49% for most other coins, included in the price | Fusion, tiered by volume | Free | Yes, fee per coin |
| Bitstamp | Spread 1.8% plus 0–0.5% when markets are volatile | 0.30% / 0.40% | €3 | Yes, variable fee |
| Bitvavo | Taker fee, at most 0.25%; the “price guarantee” option adds a spread | Maker not found / at most 0.25% | Free | Yes, 0.000017 BTC |
| Bybit EU | Spread, size by time of day | 0.25% / 0.25% | Not found | Yes, fixed fee per coin |
| Coinbase | Fee plus spread; rate not found | From 0.0% maker (its own claim) | Not found | Yes, network fee |
| Crypto.com | 0.80%; card purchases up to 4% | Not found | €1 (SEPA) | Yes, 0.0002 BTC |
| eToro | 1% plus spread | – | Free | Via eToro Money, 2% (minimum $1, maximum $100) |
| Kraken | 1% plus spread (1.5% for custom orders) | 0.40% / 0.80% | €1 | Yes, fee not found |
| OKX | Spread 1.00% | 0.08% / 0.10% | Free | Yes, fixed fee per withdrawal |
| Revolut | 1.49% (minimum €0.99 to €2.99 below €200) plus a spread of typically 0–3% | 0% / 0.09% (Revolut X) | Via your Revolut account | Yes on eligible plans, service fee plus network fee |
| Trade Republic | €1 per order plus spread (size not stated) | – | Not found | Yes, network fee only |
A few things the table does not show:
- Kraken waives its 1% instant-buy fee for Kraken+ members on volume up to $10,000 a month; the spread still applies.
- Bybit EU introduced its single trading fee of 0.25% on 5 October 2026.
- Gemini says its fees depend on factors including jurisdiction; we could not find a fee schedule for its EU entity, so it is not in the table.
- Card payments usually cost extra, for example up to 4% at Crypto.com and 1% at Bitvavo.
Features compared
| Exchange | Number of coins (its own claim) | Staking | Recurring buy | Bitcoin Lightning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitpanda | 650+ | Yes (20% of rewards) | Yes | Not found |
| Bitstamp | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Bitvavo | 400+ | Yes | Yes | No |
| Bybit EU | 115+ | Earn (unregulated, in its own words) | Yes | Not found |
| Coinbase | “Hundreds” | Yes | Yes | Not found |
| Crypto.com | 400+ | Yes | Yes | Not found |
| eToro | 150+ | Yes | Yes (from $25) | Not found |
| Kraken | 600+ | Yes (20% commission on flexible staking) | Yes | Yes |
| OKX | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Yes (up to 0.05 BTC per withdrawal) |
| Revolut | Not found | Yes | Yes | Not found |
| Trade Republic | 50 | Yes | Yes (savings plan) | Not found |
Staking and lending are not regulated under MiCA; Bitvavo and Bybit EU say so themselves. With lending you give your coins to the provider or a related company, which adds risk. Revenue publishes no tax guidance on staking (see personal tax).
How to check a provider
- For a provider licensed in Ireland, look it up in the Central Bank’s register of crypto-asset service providers. Check that the legal entity you sign up with is the one in the register, and which services it may provide.
- For providers from other EU countries, the ESMA register shows the home regulator and whether Ireland is among the countries it may serve.
- Check the Central Bank’s warnings about unauthorized firms, and watch for cloned websites that copy the details of a real firm.
- Read the fee page before you deposit: the exchange must publish it. Look at the spread as well as the fee, and at the cost of withdrawing coins.
The Central Bank warns that you could lose all the money you put into crypto. A license means a provider is supervised; it does not make the coins themselves safe.
Enforcement in Ireland
On 6 November 2025 the Central Bank fined Coinbase Europe Limited €21,464,734 for breaching its anti-money laundering transaction monitoring obligations between 23 April 2021 and 19 March 2025, when it was registered in Ireland as a virtual asset service provider. Faults in its monitoring system meant that more than 30 million transactions, worth over €176 billion, were not properly monitored over a 12-month period. Coinbase admitted the breaches. Coinbase now serves Ireland through Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. (see the first table).
If an exchange fails
There is no guarantee scheme for crypto. The Central Bank says crypto “is not protected by any form of compensation scheme” and that there are no safeguards like the Deposit Guarantee Scheme and the Investor Compensation Scheme. What MiCA does require:
- Separation. An exchange that holds your crypto must keep it separate from its own, also on the blockchain, and legally separate from its estate, “so that creditors of the crypto-asset service provider have no recourse to crypto-assets held in custody … in particular in the event of insolvency” (Article 75(7)).
- Your euros. Customer money must be placed with a bank or central bank by the end of the next business day, in an account separate from the exchange’s own (Article 70(3)). This does not apply to exchanges that are themselves a bank, payment or e-money institution.
- Liability. The exchange is liable for crypto lost through an incident attributable to it, up to the market value at the time of the loss (Article 75(8)).
- Statements and wind-down. You get a statement of your holdings at least every three months (Article 75(5)), and custodians must have a plan for an orderly wind-down (Article 74).
These rules lower the risk but do not remove it: a failure can still mean a long wait before you get your coins back. Coins in your own wallet do not depend on an exchange at all; the rules for that are on regulation. If you move a larger amount of bitcoin into self-custody, this comparison of a single hardware wallet and a multisig setup explains the options.
Where to complain
- The exchange first. Under MiCA every exchange must have a published complaints procedure, free of charge and with a template, and must investigate complaints “in a timely and fair manner” (Article 71).
- Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). If you are not satisfied with the provider’s final response, you can complain to the FSPO, free of charge, within 6 years of the conduct. It deals with providers authorized by the Central Bank and with providers regulated in another EEA country, but if your contract is not governed by Irish law it may refer you to a dispute body or court in that country. We found no FSPO statement specifically about crypto-asset service providers; contact it if you are unsure. It cannot help with unauthorized firms.
- The Central Bank. Report an unauthorized firm to the Central Bank, through its website or on 0818 681 681.
- Court. You can always start legal proceedings.
Sources
- Central Bank of Ireland: Register of Authorised Crypto-Asset Service Providers under Article 63 MiCA (run 6 October 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- ESMA: Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), interim MiCA register (CASP and non-compliant entities files of 7 October 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- Central Bank of Ireland: Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) (last checked October 2026)
- Central Bank of Ireland: Warning for consumers who have crypto-assets with unauthorised CASPs (last checked October 2026)
- Central Bank of Ireland: Crypto, consumer information (last checked October 2026)
- Central Bank of Ireland: Warnings, unauthorised firms (last checked October 2026)
- Central Bank of Ireland: Enforcement action against Coinbase Europe Limited (6 November 2025) (last checked October 2026)
- FSPO: What are the time limits? (last checked October 2026)
- FSPO: What is a financial service? (last checked October 2026)
- FSPO: Why the FSPO refers complaints to other European countries (last checked October 2026)
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA), Articles 59, 60, 63, 66, 70, 71, 74 and 75 (last checked October 2026)
Exchange pages (not official sources)
Fees and features come from each exchange’s own pages for its EU entity, checked on 7 October 2026. They are the exchange’s own statements, not checked by a regulator.
- Bitpanda: Cost transparency, crypto (version of 8 July 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- Bitstamp: Fee schedule (last checked October 2026)
- Bitvavo: Fees (help center) (last checked October 2026)
- Bybit EU: Trading fee structure (last checked October 2026)
- Coinbase: User agreement (EEA) (last checked October 2026)
- Crypto.com: Fees and limits (EEA) (last checked October 2026)
- eToro: Fees (last checked October 2026)
- Gemini: Fee schedule (last checked October 2026)
- Kraken: Fee schedule (last checked October 2026)
- OKX: Fees (last checked October 2026)
- Revolut: Revolut Digital Assets Europe Ltd, retail crypto fees (last checked October 2026)
- Trade Republic: Crypto (last checked October 2026)
This page is general information, not financial advice. Fees and licenses change, so check the register and the exchange’s own fee page before you open an account.