MiCA Regulation in Ireland: CBI Licences and Kraken's EU Base

Ireland is one of the few EU countries where a major crypto exchange has obtained two separate MiCA authorizations from the national regulator. If you use a crypto exchange in Ireland, that matters.

Ireland's Central Bank and MiCA

MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, EU 2023/1114) is the EU legal framework that governs crypto-asset service providers, stablecoin issuers, and token issuers across all 27 EU member states and the wider EEA. It applies directly in Ireland without requiring separate Irish legislation to transpose it.

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) is the designated national competent authority for MiCA in Ireland. That means every crypto exchange, custody provider, or trading platform that wants to serve Irish customers from an Irish base must obtain CBI authorization as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP). MiCA's stated purposes are consumer protection, market integrity, and financial stability. In practical terms, it requires CASPs to meet capital requirements, segregate client assets, publish white papers, and submit to ongoing supervisory oversight. An exchange operating in Ireland without that authorization cannot lawfully serve Irish customers once the MiCA transitional period has ended.

Ireland's position here is not accidental. The country has a long tradition as a European hub for financial services regulation, an English-language legal system, and a corporate environment that has attracted large technology and financial firms for decades. Those same factors made it an attractive jurisdiction for crypto firms seeking an EU regulatory foothold under MiCA.

Kraken's Two CBI Licenses

Kraken's Irish structure is the most detailed example of MiCA authorization in the country. Two separate Kraken entities hold CBI MiCA licenses, and they serve different functions.

Payward Europe Solutions Limited (CBI register no. C468360) holds a full-scope MiCA CASP authorization. Its permitted services include custody and administration of crypto-assets, operation of a trading platform, exchange of crypto-assets for fiat currency, exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets, execution of orders, placing of crypto-assets, reception and transmission of orders, portfolio management, and transfer services. This entity is passported across all 30 EEA states, meaning it can serve customers in every EU country, as well as in Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

Payward Global Solutions Limited (CBI register no. C559106) holds a second, narrower MiCA CASP authorization. Its scope is limited to operating a multilateral trading platform for crypto-assets. Like Payward Europe Solutions, it is also recorded in the ESMA CASP register, but its geographic coverage for the trading-platform service is limited to Cyprus and Ireland. Both authorizations were granted on 25 June 2025.

Here's why the dual-entity structure matters for users: the broad custody, exchange, and transfer services available across the EEA are provided by Payward Europe Solutions, while the dedicated trading platform operates through a separate legal entity with its own CBI authorization. This is a more elaborate compliance architecture than most exchanges have built in a single EU jurisdiction. It also confirms Ireland as Kraken's primary EU regulatory base. Kraken had operated a European presence in Ireland for several years before MiCA came into force, and the two CBI authorizations formalize that position under the new framework.

Other Exchanges Available in Ireland

Kraken is a regulated option for Irish users. The research used for this guide confirms its CBI-authorized entities, but it does not provide the current legal-entity and home-state authorization evidence needed to name other passported exchanges.

Passporting is the mechanism that makes this possible. Under MiCA, a CASP authorized in any EU member state can offer its services across all 27 EU member states and the EEA without obtaining an additional national license in each country. The home-state regulator retains primary supervisory responsibility; the host-state regulator (in this case, the CBI) receives a notification but does not re-authorize the firm.

The table, therefore, identifies the verified entities from the available research. It does not claim to list every exchange available in Ireland. Before opening an account with a passported provider, check its legal entity and current authorization in the ESMA CASP register.

To verify the current status of any exchange, Irish users can search the ESMA CASP register directly. The key is to check the legal entity name, not the consumer-facing brand, because a brand can operate through multiple legal entities with different authorization scopes.

Unlicensed Exchanges: What Irish Users Should Know

Not every exchange that previously served Irish users holds a MiCA authorization. The most significant case is Binance. As of late June 2026, Binance does not hold a MiCA authorization in Ireland or any other EU member state. The exchange withdrew its MiCA application in Greece, failed to secure a license by the 30 June 2026 deadline, and announced it would suspend EU services from 1 July 2026. For Irish users, this means no new registrations, no new spot orders, no deposits, and no access to Earn or staking products from that date. Existing balances remain accessible for withdrawal, but no new activity is permitted.

MEXC is another name Irish users may encounter, but the available evidence does not establish its current MiCA status in Ireland. Do not rely on brand-level claims. Check the legal entity in the ESMA CASP register before depositing funds. This is a direct consequence of how MiCA works. An unlicensed exchange cannot legally serve EU customers once the transitional period ends. It must either obtain authorization, exit the market, or face enforcement action from national regulators.

The practical lesson for Irish users is straightforward: before using any exchange, check the ESMA CASP register for the relevant legal entity. A MiCA license requires asset segregation and ongoing regulatory oversight. It does not provide bank-style deposit insurance. An unlicensed platform carries counterparty risk with no regulatory backstop.

Any earlier reviews describing Binance as available and compliant for Irish residents are now outdated. Irish users who held funds on Binance should treat withdrawal as the only available action from 1 July 2026 onward.

Self-Custody for Irish Crypto Holders

MiCA regulates service providers. It does not regulate individuals who hold their own crypto. This distinction is explicit in MiCA's text. Recital 66 of the regulation preserves individuals' right to hold crypto-assets in their own wallets without using a regulated service provider. A person in Ireland who stores bitcoin or ether in a self-custody wallet is not operating a CASP, does not require CBI authorization, and is not subject to MiCA's licensing requirements.

The EU Travel Rule introduces a practical nuance: when an exchange sends crypto to an external wallet, it may need to collect the sender and recipient information for transfers above certain thresholds. But this is an information requirement on the exchange, not a restriction on the wallet or the individual holding it.

Self-custody transfers responsibility. When a user controls the private keys, there is no exchange solvency risk and no CBI-supervised counterparty. The trade-off is that the key loss or compromise falls entirely on the user. If the keys are gone, the funds are gone.

Tangem is one hardware wallet option for Irish users who want to move crypto off an exchange into self-custody. It stores private keys offline on an NFC-enabled card, operates outside CBI oversight (because it is not a CASP), and requires no account registration or KYC. The Tangem app connects to the card via NFC at a range of 0 to 5 cm, and the private key never leaves the card's secure element.

One concrete limitation: if all cards in a Tangem set are lost and no seed phrase was configured, the funds are permanently inaccessible. Tangem cannot recover them. Self-custody means full responsibility, and that applies to hardware wallets as much as to any other key-storage method.

For Irish users who want to keep long-term holdings off an exchange while retaining access to regulated trading platforms for active buying and selling, Tangem and a MiCA-licensed exchange serve complementary roles. The exchange handles regulated activity; the hardware wallet handles storage.