OKX Receives MiFID II License for EU, Weeks After Securing MiCA Pre-Approval

Crypto exchange platform OKX has secured a MiFID II license, enabling it to launch derivative products for European institutional clients.

The new licensing comes weeks after the exchange secured a pre-authorization status under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. OKX became the first virtual financial assets exchange to receive the pre-approval.

The recent acquisition of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II license allows exchange to offer regulated investment services across the European Union.

📣 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

“Our MiFID II license and the MiCA license spotlight our commitment to meeting the rigorous compliance standards demanded in Europe and to meeting the needs of the trading community,” wrote Erald Ghoos, Europe CEO of OKX, in a blog on Thursday.

Strategic Regulatory Achievement

The MiFID license represents one of the most comprehensive regulatory frameworks for investment firms in Europe. For OKX, securing this authorization means the firm will be able to serve institutional clients with sophisticated trading tools.

The Europe offering includes OTC trading, spot trading, and bot and copy trading for 240+ cryptocurrency tokens.

“With derivatives joining that list, institutional customers gain access to sophisticated and fully compliant trading products in their local market,” Ghoos added.

Additionally, the crypto exchange offers fiat-based pairs against the euro. OKX is also offering local-language customer support across Europe, launching app and website in those languages for more customer inclusion.

OKX’s License Follows $1.5B Heist Fallout

The acquisition of MiFID II comes a day after the exchange was under purported regulator’s scrutiny in the EU over claims related to Bybit hack.

European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) authorities and other country regulators discussed whether OKX’s Web3 platform should fall under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations.

However, the exchange denied wrongdoing, stressing that it was only assisting Bybit and regulators in tracking and blocking wallet addresses linked to the stolen funds.

“We want to clarify for our community that OKX is not being investigated,” it wrote on X.

The Bloomberg article is misleading. Like all other major crypto exchanges, OKX provides a self-custody wallet service/swap feature that serves as an aggregator to create efficiency for the users. When Bybit got hacked, we reacted in two ways. (1) We froze associated funds moving… https://t.co/HUUmA8W2eq

— OKX (@okx) March 11, 2025