Austria’s Regulator Slaps New Business Ban on KuCoin EU

Austria’s monetary regulator has prohibited KuCoin EU Change from conducting new enterprise, citing breaches of inside organizational necessities round Anti-Cash Laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF) and the observance of monetary sanctions.

The Thursday resolution by the Austrian Monetary Market Authority (FMA) means KuCoin’s Vienna-based entity can not onboard new clients or conclude new contracts or merchandise inside current relationships till key compliance features are “appropriately stuffed.”

Sabina Liu, managing director at KuCoin EU, instructed Cointelegraph that two compliance professionals holding designated AML and sanctions oversight features in Austria had “lately departed,” and that such mobility was widespread in “any regulated trade.”

She stated that KuCoin had already begun recruiting “earlier than the discover was issued,” and had “voluntarily paused new person onboarding and sure buying and selling actions.”

Liu added that the matter remained “contained and restricted in scope,” and that the trade didn’t count on any “long-term structural impression on [its] European technique.”

KuCoin’s “compliance-first” Vienna hub

The transfer comes simply months after Austria granted KuCoin EU a Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) licence, permitting the Seychelles‑headquartered trade to passport crypto asset services across the European Union and European Financial Space.

KuCoin’s new enterprise ban. Supply: FMA

KuCoin has positioned Vienna as its European hub, appointing the previous London Stock Exchange Group executive Liu as managing director in January to guide its MiCA-era enlargement and pitching the bloc as a “regulatory-first” development alternative.

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Liu instructed Cointelegraph that KuCoin remained “dedicated to working strictly throughout the relevant supervisory framework,” and making certain compliance with Austrian and EEA regulatory requirements.

“Compliance is a long-term dedication,” she stated, including that “non permanent structural gaps” have been being addressed by established remediation mechanisms.

The age of MiCA compliance

The FMA’s intervention reveals how rapidly MiCA-approved corporations can face supervisory pushback if their governance or staffing diverge from accepted plans, significantly round AML and sanctions oversight.

Extra broadly, European regulators have warned that crypto asset service suppliers (CASPs) that fail to safe MiCA authorization earlier than transitional durations expire in July 2026 must wind down their EU operations, with supervisors pushing for orderly cessations slightly than final‑minute scrambles.

In France, for instance, the Monetary Markets Authority (AMF) has instructed unprepared providers to plan for an orderly cessation of enterprise by mid‑2026 if they can not meet MiCA necessities in time.

In Spain, the Nationwide Securities Market Fee (CNMV) has warned that crypto firms that fail to acquire MiCA authorization by the top of the transition interval must cease providing companies within the nation.

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