MEXC exits France, its fourth market retreat since September
MEXC will pull out of France, its fourth country-level exit since late September, even as chief executive Vugar Usi pushes a plan to turn the exchange into a multi-asset trading platform. The company said in a 28 October notice that it would phase out services to French customers, automatically close outstanding trading positions by 22 January 2027 and end withdrawals on 5 March.
The retreat carries extra weight because France's financial regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, blacklisted MEXC in June 2024 for offering financial services without the required authorisation. Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which requires crypto service providers to be authorised, has added pressure on exchanges operating without approvals.
French customers will face restrictions in four batches from 18 November, after which they cannot open new positions or make further deposits. MEXC said outstanding positions would be settled automatically on 22 January based on prevailing market conditions and available liquidity, which it acknowledged could expose customers to losses or additional fees. Assets left after the March deadline will go to a regulated custodian the exchange has not yet named. MEXC has begun referring affected users to EU-regulated trading platforms, though customers must open accounts and move holdings themselves before the deadline.
The exits began with the Netherlands on 29 September, which MEXC attributed to regulatory developments in the European Economic Area, followed by Russia and Belarus on 20 October as part of what it called global compliance efforts. They contrast with Usi's expansion strategy. Since becoming CEO in April, he has sought to broaden a business long associated with memecoin speculation into a platform offering tokenised equities, commodities and prediction markets to a base of roughly 40 million users, more than 90% of them retail.
The diversification is already producing volume. MEXC's September trading report showed spot trading in tokenised US stocks up 81% month on month, while AI-related tokenised equities and ETFs rose 88%. The exchange says it offers more than 450 stock and index futures pairs and over 200 tokenised US equities, alongside a RealStocks service covering more than 7,000 US stocks and ETFs. MEXC also disclosed exploratory talks with Payward, the parent of Kraken, on market access, trading infrastructure and liquidity; no definitive agreement has been announced.
