Best crypto app in Europe: 5 MiCA-licensed apps compared

The best crypto app for most people in Europe is Bitvavo: you buy on one euro order book, a €100 market buy costs €0.25, and iDEAL, Wero, Bancontact and SEPA deposits are free. Kraken is the best crypto trading app if you want to move up to Kraken Pro, Bitpanda suits investors who want crypto, stocks and ETFs in one app, Crypto.com is the pick for a crypto card, and Coinbase is the best-known name at a higher price.

All five apps belong to crypto exchanges that are MiCA-licensed and open to residents of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland. We checked fees, payment methods, licences and support channels on the providers’ official pages and the ESMA register on 23 October 2026. We didn’t download or test the apps, so we don’t rate screens or fast execution: the ranking uses published facts. Crypto-assets are highly volatile, and you can lose all the money you put in.

How we chose the best cryptocurrency exchanges and apps

We ranked the apps of MiCA-licensed cryptocurrency exchanges on what you can do in them, what that costs and who supervises the platform. A polished app is no use if it can’t legally serve you, or if every buy hides a spread.

1. Licence. Every app belongs to a MiCA-authorised crypto-asset service provider that is live in our four main countries. Since 1 July 2026, only MiCA-authorised firms may offer crypto services in the EU, replacing the old national registrations under local regulations.
2. Cost of a €100 buy. Many exchanges split their mobile app into two routes: a simple buy screen with a fee plus spread, and an order book with lower maker and taker fees. We show both where the platform publishes them.
3. Features. Payment methods, the number of digital assets, staking, a card, and stocks or ETFs.
4. Platform security and support. Proof of reserves, cold storage, the record on hacks and fines, and how you reach support.

We didn’t score extras such as price alerts, charting tools, portfolio tools or educational materials. Our full method is on the methodology page.

The 5 best crypto apps for EU investors

These five apps cover most mobile investors in the EU, from a €100 bitcoin buy to active crypto trading. Each runs on a MiCA-licensed exchange, and each comes with a catch.

1. Bitvavo: best crypto app for euro buyers

Bitvavo is the best crypto exchange for people who pay in euros on a phone and want low fees. Its mobile app connects to one EUR order book with 450+ digital assets, so every trading pair is priced in euros. A market order pays the 0.25% taker fee (€0.25 on €100) and a limit order the 0.15% maker fee (€0.15). An optional Price Guarantee trades against Bitvavo with a spread built into the price, and Bitvavo doesn’t publish its size.

Deposits by iDEAL, Wero, Bancontact and SEPA are free, and so are SEPA withdrawals; card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal deposits cost 1.00%. Bitvavo has been authorised by the Dutch AFM under MiCA since 26 June 2025, serves 25 SEPA countries and offers live chat in the app, with an AI assistant and human agents. On security, it says most assets sit in offline cold storage with multi-signature controls.

The catch: there’s no crypto card and no futures trading, and Bitvavo’s staking and lending sit outside MiCA. In 2022 about €280 million it had lent to Genesis became inaccessible; Bitvavo said customer withdrawals weren’t affected. Full details are in our Bitvavo review.

2. Kraken: best app for moving up to advanced trading

Kraken is the best crypto trading app if you want a simple app now and an advanced platform later. The Kraken app charges 1% on direct and recurring buys plus a variable spread, while Kraken Pro, its order-book platform, charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at the entry tier. On €100, that’s €1.00 plus spread in the app against €0.40 to €0.80 on the Pro platform. Stablecoin and FX trading pairs cost 0.20% for maker and taker.

Kraken serves the EEA under a MiCA authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland, granted on 25 June 2025. It lists 600+ assets (counted from its public API) and seven fiat currencies, offers staking and a Kraken Card for EU users (a Mastercard issued by UAB Monavate), and runs 24/7 in-app support. SEPA deposits are free and a SEPA withdrawal costs €1.

The catch: entry-tier fees rose in July 2026, from 0.25%/0.40% to 0.40%/0.80%. Advanced features such as futures come through a CySEC-licensed entity, and only for EEA clients who pass the MiFID II appropriateness test. Read our Kraken review.

3. Bitpanda: best app for crypto, stocks and ETFs

Bitpanda is the best app if you want one portfolio of crypto and traditional investments. The platform offers crypto with a premium included in the price, real stocks and ETFs at €1 per trade, ETF savings plans at €0 per order from €10, and gold in 1-gram tokens with no storage fee.

Bitpanda’s fee structure differs from an exchange’s. The crypto premium is 0.99% for bitcoin and stablecoins, 1.49% for other cryptocurrencies and 2.49% for assets under €100 million market cap, so a €100 bitcoin buy costs €0.99. Savings plans run weekly, every two weeks or monthly. Bitpanda holds MiCA authorisations from Austria’s FMA, Germany’s BaFin and Malta’s MFSA, and support runs through 24/7 in-app chat with a handover to staff.

The catch: the premium is easy to overlook because it sits inside the price, and frequent trading adds up. In August 2026 the FMA fined Bitpanda GmbH €70,000 for MiCAR breaches on a white paper and marketing. See our Bitpanda review.

4. Crypto.com: best app with a crypto card

Crypto.com is the pick if you want to spend crypto with a card. One app gives you access to 400+ coins, staking and a prepaid Visa card issued by its Maltese e-money institution, and support runs 24/7 by live chat. It serves the EEA under a MiCA authorisation from Malta’s MFSA, notified in January 2025.

The mobile app is the expensive route. App buys cost 0.8% plus a possible spread, and card deposits cost 3.99%. The Crypto.com Exchange, a separate trading platform, charges 0.25% maker and 0.50% taker at the entry tier, so a €100 market order costs €0.50 there against €0.80 plus spread in the app. A “Level Up” subscription from €3.99 a month advertises zero app trading fees. SEPA deposits are free and SEPA withdrawals cost €1.

The catch: Crypto.com says its Earn and staking products aren’t regulated under MiCA. In 2022 attackers bypassed 2FA on 483 accounts and withdrew about $34 million; Crypto.com said affected users were reimbursed. DNB also fined it €2.85 million for serving Dutch users without registration. Read our Crypto.com review.

5. Coinbase: best-known app, with higher fees

Coinbase is the best-known crypto app, run by a company listed on Nasdaq since April 2021 and licensed under MiCA by Luxembourg’s CSSF on 20 June 2025. The platform offers a simple buy screen, 400+ crypto assets, staking and a Coinbase Card, issued in the EU by Paysafe.

Coinbase’s fee structure for simple buys combines a spread with a fee that varies by payment method, order size and market. Both show in the order preview, but there’s no fixed published rate. Coinbase Advanced costs 0.60% maker and 1.20% taker at the entry tier, according to NerdWallet’s copy of the in-app table, which may differ for EU accounts: €1.20 on a €100 market order. SEPA deposits and withdrawals are free.

The catch: higher fees than every other pick on the order book, and a regulatory compliance record with a long list of fines, including €21.46 million from the Central Bank of Ireland in 2025 and €3.25 million announced on 22 October 2026, both subject to High Court confirmation. In 2025 criminals bribed offshore support staff for data on about 69,000 customers. See our Coinbase review.

What a €100 buy costs in each crypto app

On published fees, a €100 buy is cheapest in the Bitvavo app, at €0.25 for a market order. The simple buy screens at Kraken, Crypto.com and Coinbase have higher fees and add a spread on top, so switching to the order-book route usually lowers your trading fees.

App	Simple buy, €100	Order-book route, €100	Free euro deposits	Card top-up	Crypto card	Support
Bitvavo	€0.25 (market order)	Same order book; €0.15 as maker	iDEAL, Wero, Bancontact, SEPA	1.00%	No	Live chat, email
Kraken	€1.00 + spread	€0.80 on Kraken Pro; €0.40 as maker	SEPA	Not verified	Kraken Card	24/7 in-app
Bitpanda	€0.99 bitcoin; €1.49 other crypto	Bitpanda Fusion, entry fee not verified	SEPA	1.49% (PayPal)	Not in our data	24/7 in-app chat
Crypto.com	€0.80 + spread	€0.50 on the Exchange; €0.25 as maker	SEPA (minimum €1)	3.99%	Prepaid Visa	24/7 live chat
Coinbase	Spread + variable fee	€1.20 on Advanced; €0.60 as maker	SEPA	No fixed rate published	Coinbase Card	Phone, in-app messaging
OKX (not ranked)	Convert: no trading fee, spread not published	€0.35; €0.10 with an X-Perps account	SEPA	1.99%	OKX Card	Not verified
Bybit EU (not ranked)	Shown after log-in	€0.25	SEPA	Supported, fee not published	Yes	24/7

How we worked it out: published fees on 23 October 2026 for a €100 buy, with euros deposited by bank transfer. Spreads on simple buys aren’t published by Kraken, Crypto.com, Coinbase or OKX, so the real cost there is higher than shown, and other fees such as card top-ups come on top.

At €100 a month for a year, the route you pick inside the same app matters. Kraken app buys cost 12 × €1.00 = €12.00 plus spreads, against 12 × €0.40 = €4.80 for limit orders on the Pro platform. Crypto.com app buys cost 12 × €0.80 = €9.60 plus spreads, against 12 × €0.25 = €3.00 for maker orders on the Exchange. Bitvavo market orders cost 12 × €0.25 = €3.00, Bitpanda bitcoin buys 12 × €0.99 = €11.88, and Coinbase Advanced market orders 12 × €1.20 = €14.40.

Crypto app features compared

The five apps differ more on features than on licences. Bitpanda is the only one with real stocks and ETFs, Kraken, Crypto.com and Coinbase offer a card, and only Kraken and Coinbase offer crypto futures to some EU users.

App	Crypto assets	Staking	Derivatives for EU users	Proof of reserves	Extras
Bitvavo	450+	Yes, outside MiCA	No (margin up to 10x on 20 assets)	Attestation for selected assets, 31 March 2026	iDEAL, Wero, Bancontact
Kraken	600+	Yes	Limited, via CySEC entity	Merkle tree, snapshot 30 June 2026	Pro platform, seven fiat currencies
Bitpanda	Not published in our data	Not verified	Crypto CFDs (legacy) and margin	Not published in our data	Stocks, ETFs, gold, savings plans
Crypto.com	400+	Yes, not regulated under MiCA	Exchange derivatives geo-restricted for the EEA	Mazars-verified snapshot of 7 December 2022	Prepaid Visa, tokenised US stocks
Coinbase	400+	Yes, 35% commission	Futures for Advanced users in 26 countries (retail eligibility unconfirmed)	No Merkle tree; audited accounts	Coinbase One subscription

Note that Crypto.com’s tokenised US stocks, open to EEA users since 12 August 2026, are derivatives, not real shares, and Bitpanda says 78.5% of retail client accounts lose money trading its CFDs.

How to choose the best crypto app

Pick the app that matches how you’ll use it, from occasional euro buys to a mixed portfolio or active trading, then check the cost of that exact use.

Fees: simple buy screen or order book

Many exchanges put the simple buy screen first in their mobile app, and it’s usually the dearest route. The order-book route from the same provider costs less, especially with limit orders: €0.40 instead of €1.00 plus spread at Kraken, and €0.25 instead of €0.80 plus spread at Crypto.com. Bitvavo is the exception, because every order goes through its order book. Other fees to check are card top-ups (1.00% to 3.99%), SEPA withdrawals (€0 to €1) and network fees when you move coins to external wallets.

Regulation and custody

Check that the app’s operator appears in ESMA’s MiCA register and serves your country. On a centralized exchange, the platform holds the private keys while your coins sit in its hot wallets or cold storage, and no compensation scheme covers crypto-assets: De Nederlandsche Bank states they aren’t covered by the Dutch investor compensation scheme. That’s why customer assets, segregation and proof of reserves matter.

Beginners or advanced traders

If you’re new, a single order book in euros keeps things simple, and our best crypto exchange for beginners ranking goes into more detail. Experienced traders and advanced traders who want advanced trading tools such as order types, charting tools and deep liquidity should look at Kraken Pro, Coinbase Advanced or the Crypto.com Exchange. Leverage is a separate decision: most retail traders lose money with it.

Crypto app security: how to protect your account

Good security starts with your own settings: turn on two-factor authentication with an authenticator app, use a password you don’t use anywhere else, and keep only what you trade in the app. Platform security matters too, which is why we list proof of reserves and incidents above.

• Use app-based 2FA, not text messages. The 2022 Crypto.com incident, where attackers bypassed 2FA on 483 accounts, shows that 2FA isn’t a cure-all, but it’s still the most important security setting to switch on. Our 2FA guide explains the set-up.
• Lock down withdrawals. Use a withdrawal address whitelist if your app offers one, so coins can only go to wallets you approved.
• Ignore unexpected contact. Customer data can leak: in 2025 criminals bribed offshore Coinbase support staff to obtain data on about 69,000 customers. Real support staff never ask for passwords, 2FA codes or your seed phrase.
• Move long-term holdings. If you hold for years, self-custody wallets put the private keys in your hands, along with the responsibility to keep the seed phrase.

Crypto.com’s Account Protection Programme offers up to USD 250,000 cover against unauthorised transactions, but no app insures investors against falling prices.

Other crypto exchanges and apps worth knowing

Several more crypto exchanges are open to EU residents but didn’t make the list, each for a clear reason.

• OKX has a MiCA licence from Malta and an app with spot trading, spot margin up to 10x and X-Perps futures for retail and institutional investors. Its lowest spot fees need an X-Perps account, and its operator paid about $504 million after a 2025 US guilty plea.
• Bybit EU charges competitive fees, a flat 0.25% on spot trades, and supports Apple Pay and Google Pay top-ups, but the group lost about $1.5bn in a February 2025 hack.
• Gate is MiCA-licensed in Malta with a long altcoin list, but we couldn’t verify whether its app is available for Gate EU accounts.
• Trade Republic is a German bank whose app sells about 50 real coins, transferable to external wallets and mostly held in cold storage with BitGo Europe, with crypto savings plans at €0 per execution from €1.
• Wallets and trackers: self-custody wallets and portfolio trackers are useful tools, but they aren’t exchanges and we don’t rank them. US-focused lists often feature Cash App and Robinhood; we haven’t reviewed either.

Why Binance, Gemini and other big names are missing

Since the MiCA transitional period ended on 1 July 2026, only MiCA-authorised firms may serve EU users, and these well-known exchanges don’t meet that test for EU residents.

• Binance has no MiCA licence, and since 1 July 2026 EU users can only withdraw: no sign-ups, deposits or new spot orders.
• Gemini closed all EEA accounts on 6 April 2026. In the US, Gemini offers spot, perpetuals, staking, a credit card and prediction markets.
• KuCoin: KuCoin EU is MiCA-authorised in Austria, but the FMA said on 18 May 2026 that it may not commence operations yet.
• Bitget has no MiCA licence (Bitget EU has only applied to the FMA), bars Germany, France and Austria, and lost about $351.6 million in a September 2026 hack.
• MEXC has no MiCA licence, received an AFM warning on 16 September 2025, and is run by a company registered in the Comoros.

Which crypto app is best for you?

There’s no single best mobile app for every investor, so match the app to what you’ll do most often:

• Euro buys at low fees: Bitvavo, with free iDEAL, Wero, Bancontact and SEPA deposits.
• Room to grow into advanced trading: Kraken, then the Pro platform.
• Crypto plus stocks, ETFs and gold: Bitpanda.
• Spending with a crypto card: Crypto.com, buying on the Exchange rather than in the app.
• A familiar, listed brand: Coinbase, ideally through Coinbase Advanced.

Our verdict on the best crypto app

Bitvavo is the best crypto app for most EU residents and one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges for euro buyers: MiCA-licensed, €0.25 on a €100 market buy and free local deposits. Its gaps are a card, futures and an Earn product outside MiCA.

Kraken is the strongest choice for experienced traders, while Bitpanda, Crypto.com and Coinbase each suit a narrower goal. Fees change often, so check the live price before you buy, and only invest money you can afford to lose.