Gate.io vs Bitget: EU licences, fees and which to choose

Gate.io vs Bitget looks like a contest between two global altcoin exchanges with the same 0.10% spot fee. For EU residents, the licence settles it first: on 23 October 2026 Gate serves the EEA through Gate EU, a MiCA-authorised company supervised in Malta, while Bitget has no MiCA licence. Bitget EU has only applied to Austria’s FMA, Bitget’s terms bar Germany, France and Austria, and on 24 September 2026 attackers drained part of its hot and warm wallets.

Outside the EU the comparison is closer. Bitget is built around copy trading and futures, with a 20% fee discount when you pay fees in BGB, while Gate’s global platform lists far more tokens. Below we compare licences, fees with euro examples, products and track record, using each exchange’s official pages as checked on 23 October 2026.

Gate.io vs Bitget: the short answer

For EU residents, Gate wins, because it is the only one of the two with a MiCA licence. For readers outside the EU, the choice depends on what you trade: Bitget for copy trading and futures, Gate’s global platform for the widest token list.

• Choose Gate if you live in the EU and want a licensed cryptocurrency exchange for spot trading in altcoins at 0.10%.
• Choose Bitget only if you live outside the EU, in a country Bitget serves, want copy trading or futures, and accept its September 2026 hack.
• Choose neither if you want EU-regulated futures, or if you need to know deposit fees and withdrawal fees before you sign up.

Read our full Gate.io review and Bitget review for each exchange on its own.

Can you use Gate and Bitget in the EU?

Only Gate. Since 1 July 2026, when MiCA’s transition period ended, only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto-asset services in the EU, and ESMA told unauthorised firms to stop onboarding and wind down in an orderly way.

Gate EU: MiCA-licensed in Malta

Gate Technology Ltd (licence GTEC-25238) was authorised under MiCA by the Malta Financial Services Authority on 29 September 2025, for custody, operating a trading platform, exchange, order execution and transfer services. The licence is passported to the other EEA countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland. Gate Technology Ltd also holds an MFSA Financial Institution licence for payment services involving e-money tokens.

EU residents use Gate EU at gate.com/en-eu, not the global platform. Gate’s global user agreement lists the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Malta, the UK and the US among restricted jurisdictions for the global site.

Bitget: applied, not authorised

Bitget confirmed on 2 July 2026 that Bitget EU had applied to the FMA for MiCA authorisation. Bitget doesn’t appear in ESMA’s register file of 22 October 2026, so it holds no MiCA licence. Its terms of use (updated 20 October 2026) list Germany, France, Austria and the US as prohibited countries. Bitget stopped new sign-ups from France and Germany on 16 January 2026 and ended all services for French residents on 31 March 2026.

The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland aren’t named in Bitget’s terms, but that doesn’t make Bitget licensed there. Without a MiCA licence, there is no EU regulator to turn to if your funds are frozen or lost.

Outside the EU

Bitget serves UK users through financial promotions approved by an FCA-authorised partner, and lists non-EU registrations such as AUSTRAC in Australia. Gate isn’t available in the UK. In the US, neither Bitget nor Gate’s global platform serves you; Gate runs a separate company there, Gate US, Inc., which we haven’t reviewed.

Gate.io vs Bitget trading fees

Both exchanges charge 0.10% maker and 0.10% taker on spot trades at the entry level. Bitget is cheaper if you pay fees in BGB and publishes a bitcoin withdrawal fee; Gate EU publishes neither its deposit fees nor its withdrawal fees. One caveat: Gate’s fees below are for Gate EU and Bitget’s for its global platform, because there is no operating Bitget EU service.

Spot trading fees and fee discounts

Gate EU charges 0.10% maker fees and 0.10% taker fees at VIP 0. VIP tiers 1 to 16, based on trading volume, lower that to as little as 0% maker and 0.02% taker. Bitget charges 0.10% maker and 0.10% taker, with 20% off when you pay fees in BGB, its own token, which brings both to 0.08%. Its VIP tiers depend on 30-day trading volume, assets or BGB holdings.

A token discount has a catch: you have to hold BGB, and its price can fall by more than you save.

Worked example: €100 and €1,000 spot buys

Here is what spot trading crypto costs at entry rates, as trade size × fee rate.

The gap on a €1,000 buy is 20 cents. For EU readers it doesn’t matter: a saving on an exchange that may not serve you is no saving.

Futures fees

Bitget’s USDT-M futures cost 0.02% maker and 0.06% taker at VIP 0. Opening and closing a €1,000 position with market orders costs €0.60 + €0.60 = €1.20, plus funding payments while the position is open. Gate EU offers no futures; Gate’s global platform does, but we haven’t checked its futures fees.

Deposit fees and withdrawal fees

Gate EU accepts euro deposits by SEPA bank transfers and card purchases with debit or credit card, Apple Pay and Google Pay, but doesn’t publish what any of them cost, nor its crypto withdrawal fees. Bitget charges 0.00002 BTC to withdraw bitcoin on the Bitcoin network (23 October 2026); we couldn’t verify its euro SEPA or card fees. On both, make a small test deposit and read the fee on the confirmation screen before you pay.

What you can trade on Gate and Bitget

Gate EU is a spot exchange with convert, staking and a card, while Bitget’s global platform adds futures, margin and copy trading. Which matters depends on whether you buy and hold or trade actively.

Supported cryptocurrencies

Gate EU lists roughly 420 to 440 markets with EUR and USDC pairs, which we count as 400+ crypto assets. Gate’s global site advertises 5,400+ coins, but EU residents can’t use it. Bitget’s public API shows about 3,500 spot pairs, with roughly 500 base assets on the main market and most others in a separate zone.

A wide selection of small tokens has a downside. Thin trading volume means a market order can move the price against you, so use limit orders on small coins and check the order book first.

Copy trading and trading strategies

Copy trading is Bitget’s core product. Its global platform offers spot copy trading, futures copy trading and bot copy trading, where your account follows the trading strategies of other users automatically. None of it runs under an EU authorisation, and Gate EU offers no copy trading at all.

Copying someone means copying their losses too. On futures, a copied leveraged position can be liquidated quickly, and most retail traders lose money with leveraged products. A lead trader’s past returns don’t predict future ones.

Derivatives trading

Bitget offers futures and margin on its global platform, but has no EU licence for them, and whether EU residents may use them is unclear. Gate EU’s user agreement leaves derivatives and margin out of the EU offer. If you want regulated crypto futures in the EU, OKX Europe and Kraken offer them under MiFID II rules.

Staking, convert and the Gate Card

Gate EU offers staking, OTC trading, a Gate Card and convert, which it advertises with no fees and no slippage; the spread in the quote isn’t published. Bitget offers staking and other earn products on its global platform; we didn’t verify whether its card is available to EEA residents. Staking on any exchange adds platform risk, because your coins sit with the company while they earn.

Security, proof of reserves and track record

Gate EU holds a MiCA licence and has no incidents in our verified data, while Bitget lost hundreds of millions of dollars in a September 2026 hack. Neither publishes how much it keeps in cold storage.

Bitget’s September 2026 hack

On 24 September 2026 attackers drained part of Bitget’s hot and warm wallets. Bitget first estimated the loss at $351.6 million; it was later reported as $387.5 million. Bitget paused withdrawals and said its User Protection Fund, stated at over $464 million in the incident notice, covers the loss. We couldn’t verify the final figure, when withdrawals fully resumed, or the fund’s balance afterwards.

Proof of reserves

Both publish proof of reserves. Gate uses Merkle trees and zk-SNARKs, an implementation audited by Hacken in January 2024; we couldn’t load a current reserve ratio. Bitget publishes a monthly Merkle-tree report with platform reserves and a reserve ratio. Proof of reserves shows that customer balances were covered at one moment. It isn’t insurance, and it doesn’t show a company’s other debts.

Regulatory record

France’s AMF blacklisted bitget.com on 7 November 2023 for providing digital-asset services without registration, and removed it on 9 July 2026. Bitget paused UK onboarding in May 2024 after FCA rule changes. We found no fines or incidents involving Gate EU in the sources we checked, but we couldn’t verify Gate’s older history from primary sources, so we don’t call its record clean.

Whichever you use, turn on app-based two-factor authentication, use a withdrawal allowlist, and keep long-term holdings in a wallet you control.

Who should choose Gate and who should choose Bitget

Choose by where you live first. For EU readers that settles it.

Choose Gate if

• you live in the EU and want a MiCA-licensed exchange for altcoin spot trading;
• you want 0.10% fees plus convert, staking and a card in one account;
• you don’t need futures or copy trading.

Choose Bitget if

• you live outside the EU, the US and the other countries Bitget bars;
• copy trading or futures is the main reason you’re picking an exchange;
• you accept a September 2026 hack and the lack of an EU regulator.

Choose neither if

• you want regulated crypto futures in the EU;
• you’re a beginner and want published euro fees before you open an account.

Other crypto exchanges to compare

For EU readers, the useful comparisons are among licensed exchanges. Kraken vs Gate.io weighs Gate against an Irish-licensed exchange with published fiat fees and EU futures, and Gate.io vs Crypto.com against an app-first rival. If you’re weighing Bitget against another unlicensed name, KuCoin vs Bitget explains where both stand. Our best exchanges for altcoins ranks only licensed options.

How we built this Gate.io vs Bitget comparison

We’re an editorial team, and we didn’t open accounts for this comparison. On 23 October 2026 we checked both exchanges’ fee pages, licence pages and terms of use, Bitget’s incident notice and public API, and ESMA’s MiCA register (update of 22 October 2026). Figures that change often carry that date. Our scoring follows our methodology. Nothing here is financial advice; crypto-assets can lose all their value.