Emre Yumlu 
Kraken to gradually delist USDT and four other stablecoins in Europe to comply with MiCA regulations. Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is preparing to delist five stablecoins, including Tether’s USDt, to comply with European crypto regulations.
The exchange will completely remove USDt from its platform starting March 31, to align with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
Alongside USDT, PayPal USD, Tether EURt (EURT), TrueUSD, and TerraClassicUSD (UST) will gradually no longer be supported in the European market.
The company stated, “These changes are being made to ensure Kraken remains compliant and can provide an exceptional trading experience to its European clients in the long term.”
Gradual Delisting Process
In line with the provisions set by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Kraken will gradually phase out USDT support.
First, Kraken will set margin pairs involving the affected assets to “reduce-only” mode for European Economic Area (EEA) clients on February 13. Following this restriction, EEA users will only be able to reduce or fully close out existing margin positions.
By February 27, Kraken will put the affected tokens in “sell-only” mode, preventing EEA clients from generating deposit addresses for tokens like USDT but still allowing trading.
On March 24, Kraken will halt all spot trading for the affected assets, closing all open orders and converting them to other coins or fiat currencies.
Kraken stated that all EEA clients holding these assets as of March 31, 2025, will have their balances converted to an equivalent stablecoin and added:
“Assets deposited into existing addresses after the above deadlines will only be eligible for withdrawal.”
Kraken emphasized that the delisting process will only affect EEA clients, with affected regions including 30 countries such as Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
ESMA Warns: Kraken and Crypto.com Moving Toward Compliance
ESMA warned that abrupt delisting actions could lead to disorderly markets and highlighted the importance of a gradual process. Kraken’s announcement came after Crypto.com confirmed it would delist USDT and nine other stablecoins by January 31, 2025.
Crypto.com will give users until the end of Q1 2025 to convert affected tokens to MiCA-compliant tokens. Otherwise, the tokens will be automatically converted to a compliant stablecoin.
ESMA has called for the restriction of MiCA non-compliant coins starting in mid-January and recommended the compliance process be completed by the end of Q1 2025. Kraken and Crypto.com are among the first exchanges in 2025 to announce delisting non-compliant coins, following Coinbase’s delisting of eight tokens, including USDT, in December 2024.
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