Regulation tracker
Legal status by market
Where crypto exchanges are licensed and where they may legally be used, market by market — an honest, sourced regulatory-status tracker.
United Kingdom
The UK's FCA financial-promotions regime has applied to qualifying cryptoassets since 8 October 2023, and it bans referral/refer-a-friend incentives in crypto promotions — so a standard affiliate referral incentive is non-compliant for UK retail consumers.
Germany
Germany falls under EU MiCA, in application since 30 December 2024, with the transitional grandfathering period ending 1 July 2026 — after which any CASP serving EU clients without authorisation is in breach of EU law.
France
France is governed by EU MiCA plus the AMF's own crypto-asset advertising rules — even a CASP-authorised exchange must still comply with French national marketing restrictions.
Spain
Spain is governed by EU MiCA plus the CNMV's crypto-asset advertising rules, which impose specific requirements on mass-market crypto promotions and influencer marketing.
Australia
Australia is mid-transition: the Digital Assets Framework passed 1 April 2026 and received Royal Assent 8 April 2026, and will require digital-asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms to hold an AFSL from ASIC once it commences on 9 April 2027.
Canada
Canada regulates crypto trading platforms through provincial securities regulators under the CSA umbrella, with registration requirements and product restrictions that vary by province.
United States
The United States regulates crypto through an overlapping federal (SEC, CFTC) and state-by-state patchwork, and many global exchanges restrict or bar US users under their own terms.
United Arab Emirates (Dubai)
Dubai operates a dedicated virtual-asset licensing regime under VARA — one of the more developed and permissive frameworks for licensed providers — though each exchange's UAE availability still needs verifying.
Singapore
Singapore licenses digital-payment-token services under the Payment Services Act, administered by MAS — a strict but legal framework that also restricts public marketing of crypto services to retail consumers.
Brazil
Brazil has a maturing legal framework for virtual-asset service providers, with the Banco Central do Brasil developing the supervisory regime under the country's crypto law; the market is comparatively permissive.