USDT stablecoin to be barred from US and EU regulated exchanges

In the United States, the GENIUS Act—legislation passed in July 2025—requires stablecoin issuers to demonstrate full reserve backing for their tokens. The deadline for regulators to issue detailed rules passed on July 18, 2026, but the agencies have not yet finalized them. Under the law, any firm that does not comply by July 2028 must cease offering its stablecoin to U.S. customers, effectively removing it from U.S. exchanges. Tether’s USDT faces scrutiny because the composition of its reserve assets may not satisfy the new requirements.

In the European Union, the MiCA transition period ended on 1 July 2026. Companies that provide crypto‑asset services without a MiCA licence are now operating illegally. Because Tether never sought an e‑money token (EMT) licence, USDT was withdrawn from regulated EU platforms such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken. The gap is being filled by a handful of euro‑denominated e‑money tokens and Circle’s USDC, which holds an EMT licence. Both regulatory moves represent a major shift in how the world’s largest stablecoin can be accessed by institutional investors and retail users in the two largest financial markets.