MEXC review: low fees, no EU licence and what that means

MEXC is a large offshore crypto exchange with very low fees and a huge list of tokens, but it holds no MiCA licence and the Dutch regulator has publicly warned about it. Our verdict for EU residents is “wrong way”: the fee savings are small, and the protection you give up is not.

We wrote this MEXC Global exchange review for people living in Europe. We checked MEXC’s fee page, its terms and About page, its public market data, the ESMA MiCA register and ESMA’s list of non-compliant firms on 23 October 2026. We haven’t opened a MEXC account, and we don’t link to MEXC from this page.

MEXC review: quick verdict

MEXC is a global exchange that charges 0.00% maker and 0.05% taker on major spot pairs, lists more than 1,400 assets, and offers futures and copy trading, but it has no EU licence. For an EU resident, that missing licence outweighs everything else.

	MEXC
MiCA licence	None
Regulator warning	AFM (Netherlands), 16 September 2025
Operating company	MEXC (Comoros) Ltd, Anjouan, Comoros
Spot fees (major USDT pairs)	0.00% maker, 0.05% taker
Futures fees	0–0.04% maker, 0–0.10% taker
Listed assets	1,400+
Euro deposit fees	Not verifiable
Proof of reserves	Company claim, no named third-party attestation
Our verdict for EU residents	Wrong way

The main upside is cost: on a €1,000 trade the taker fee is €0.50. The main catch sits right beside it: no EU regulator supervises how MEXC holds your money, and the AFM says it isn’t allowed to serve Dutch residents.

What is MEXC? A global crypto exchange run offshore

MEXC is a centralized exchange, founded in 2018, that offers spot trading, perpetual futures, copy trading and staking through a website, the MEXC app and an API. It is best known for low fees, leveraged futures and a very long list of tokens, which is why active traders and crypto enthusiasts outside the EU look at it.

What MEXC offers, in short:

• Spot market: 1,867 spot markets across 1,476 base assets on 23 October 2026, mostly trading pairs against USDT.
• MEXC futures: USDT-margined perpetual contracts with leverage.
• Copy trading: follow other traders’ positions automatically.
• Staking and Earn: reward products on selected tokens.
• Fiat currencies: EUR and BRL are listed, but we couldn’t verify the payment methods or their costs.

The operating company is MEXC (Comoros) Ltd. Unlike most major exchanges that serve Europe, MEXC names no licence from any regulator.

Is MEXC licensed in Europe? No

MEXC has no MiCA licence. It doesn’t appear in ESMA’s interim register of authorised crypto-asset service providers, and ESMA’s list of non-compliant entities records an AFM public warning dated 16 September 2025 that MEXC Global provides crypto services in the Netherlands without a MiCAR licence, in breach of Article 59 of MiCA.

Since 1 July 2026 only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto-asset services anywhere in the EU. ESMA told unauthorised firms to stop onboarding customers and wind down in an orderly way. An exchange without that authorisation is not permitted to serve EU residents, whatever its website says, and these regulatory restrictions apply to MEXC in every EU country, not just the Netherlands.

MEXC’s own documents don’t claim otherwise. Its user agreement and About page name no licence or registration with any regulator. The terms, updated on 13 October 2026, exclude the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, mainland China and other countries, but don’t list EU countries. That silence is not permission: under MiCA, the licence decides, not the exchange’s list of restricted countries.

Who runs MEXC?

MEXC’s user agreement names MEXC (Comoros) Ltd, registered in Mutsamudu on the island of Anjouan in the Comoros, as the operating company. MEXC doesn’t disclose a headquarters. The AFM’s warning refers to the brand as MEXC Global.

That matters if something goes wrong. Your contract is with a company in a small offshore jurisdiction, not with a firm supervised by a regulator in your own country or anywhere in the EU.

Is MEXC legit? Separating size from regulation

MEXC is a real, working exchange, founded in 2018, and by its own account a big one. “Legit” and “licensed” are different questions, though: MEXC is an established trading venue, but it is not a regulated option for EU residents.

These are MEXC’s own claims, from its About page:

• more than 40 million users in 170+ countries and regions;
• a CEO, Vugar Usi, who was previously COO of Bitget.

We couldn’t verify the 40 million users figure, or how many of them are active users, independently. What we could check is MEXC’s public market data: on 23 October 2026 its API listed 1,867 spot markets across 1,476 base assets, mostly quoted in USDT. That is a far larger list than most major exchanges carry, and it makes MEXC a trading venue with an unusually long tail of small tokens.

Is MEXC safe? What we could and couldn’t verify

We can’t call MEXC safe for EU residents: it has no EU licence, its proof of reserves isn’t backed by a named third party, and we couldn’t verify its security incident history. Low fees don’t change any of that, and neither do the security features an exchange advertises.

Proof of reserves and the insurance fund

• Proof of reserves: MEXC’s Proof of Trust page claims reserves are “backed 1:1 and beyond” and “verified in real time”. When we checked, it showed no snapshot date, no per-asset ratios and no named third-party attestation.
• Guardian Fund: MEXC advertises a $100 million Guardian Fund, with one USDT wallet address published.
• Futures insurance fund: MEXC advertises a futures insurance fund, meant to cover losses when liquidations go wrong, but its balance wasn’t displayed when we checked.
• Cold storage: we found no cold-storage claim in MEXC’s materials.

Even a well-documented proof of reserves is limited protection. It shows assets at one moment; it doesn’t show all liabilities, and it doesn’t give you a right to your coins if the exchange fails.

Incidents and withdrawal complaints

We couldn’t verify other regulator warnings or reported security and account-freeze incidents for MEXC, so we don’t claim it has a clean record. Online reviews contain complaints about frozen funds and blocked withdrawals; these are user allegations we couldn’t check, not verified incidents.

What MEXC’s own terms do say: it can block withdrawals from accounts that are not verified. If you deposit before you complete KYC, your money can get stuck.

MEXC fees: spot, futures, deposits and withdrawals

MEXC’s headline spot trading fees are 0.00% maker and 0.05% taker on major USDT pairs, among the lowest fees compared with any large exchange. Rates vary by pair, futures have their own schedule, and we couldn’t verify the cost of getting euros in and out.

Spot trading fees

MEXC fee schedule item	Fee
Spot maker (major USDT pairs)	0.00%
Spot taker (major USDT pairs)	0.05%
Taker with MX discount (BTC/USDT)	0.04%
Promoted pairs	0% maker and taker on many pairs
Smaller pairs	Often 0.08% taker, per MEXC’s API

Paying trading fees in MX, MEXC’s own token, gives 20% off; those fee discounts come on top of the zero fee promotions on some pairs. Promotions change often, so check the MEXC fee schedule for the exact pair you want to trade. Our guide to maker and taker fees explains which one applies to your order.

MEXC futures trading fees

Futures fees	Maker	Taker
BTCUSDT perpetual (special rate)	0.00%	0.02%
Published range	0–0.04%	0–0.10%

MEXC’s futures maker fees range from 0% to 0.04%, and taker fees from 0% to 0.10%, depending on the contract and any promotion.

Perpetual futures also carry funding rates, payments between long and short traders at set intervals, which are separate from trading fees and can cost more than the fee itself on a position held for days.

Deposits, withdrawals and fiat purchases

We couldn’t verify MEXC’s euro deposit methods or fees, its withdrawal fees for euros, its withdrawal limits, or its BTC withdrawal fee: the deposit and withdrawal fee tab blocked automated access when we checked. MEXC lists EUR among its fiat currencies, but we can’t tell you whether a bank transfer, Apple Pay or another payment method is available to you, what fiat purchases cost, or how fiat withdrawals to your bank account work.

That gap matters. Most markets on MEXC are quoted in USDT, so turning euros into crypto usually means a fiat purchase or a conversion step before you trade, and any cost there comes on top of the 0.05% headline.

Worked example: what the low fees actually save you

Here is the spot taker fee on MEXC compared with two MiCA-licensed exchanges, using their published entry-level rates. MEXC’s figure leaves out the euro deposit cost, which we couldn’t verify.

Purchase	MEXC (0.05% taker)	Bitvavo (0.25% taker)	Kraken (0.80% taker)
€100	€0.05	€0.25	€0.80
€1,000	€0.50	€2.50	€8.00
€100 a month for a year	€0.60	€3.00	€9.60

Against Bitvavo, MEXC saves you €0.20 on a €100 buy and €2.00 on €1,000. Over a year of €100 monthly buys, the saving is €2.40 (€3.00 minus €0.60). With a limit order on Bitvavo at 0.15%, the yearly gap shrinks to €1.80.

Why low fees don’t make up for a missing licence

A saving of €2.40 a year doesn’t compensate for keeping your whole balance with an unlicensed offshore company. That is the real trade off behind MEXC’s low fees. The fee is the smallest risk on the table; the size of the risk is everything you hold on the platform.

A MiCA licence gives you things a low fee can’t:

• A supervisor. A national regulator checks how the exchange keeps client assets apart from its own and how it handles complaints, and can step in.
• Someone to complain to. If an EU-licensed exchange mistreats you, you can go to its regulator. With MEXC (Comoros) Ltd, there is no EU regulator to contact.
• Legal certainty. An unlicensed exchange can be told to stop serving your country at any time. Since July 2026, ESMA expects unauthorised firms to wind down their EU business, which could mean restrictions on your account.

None of these protections stops crypto prices from falling: any crypto-asset can lose most or all of its value, on any exchange. But on a licensed exchange, the price is the main risk. On an unlicensed one, you add the risk of the venue itself. Put that next to €2.40 a year and the trade-off is clear.

MEXC futures trading and leverage

MEXC offers USDT-margined perpetual futures with low futures fees, but futures trading is where most retail traders lose money, including experienced traders. Leverage multiplies both gains and losses, and a small price move against you can wipe out your margin through liquidation.

MEXC doesn’t publish a share of retail accounts that lose money on its futures, and the derivatives market is where an unlicensed venue adds the most risk. Whether EU residents can still trade futures on MEXC after the AFM warning is something we haven’t tested. Under EU rules, crypto derivatives for retail clients belong with firms licensed for them.

If you want to understand perpetuals before you touch them, start with our guide to crypto derivatives. If you’re new, the simplest rule is to avoid leverage altogether.

Copy trading and Earn on MEXC

MEXC offers copy trading and staking alongside spot and futures. Copy trading lets you mirror another trader’s positions automatically, which means you copy their losses as well as their gains.

• Copy trading: past results of a lead trader say nothing reliable about future results, and copied futures trades carry the same leverage risk as your own.
• Staking and Earn: MEXC offers staking products. Promotional yields on small tokens can look high, but the yield is paid in a token that can fall faster than the yield adds up, and no EU rules apply to these products on an unlicensed platform.

Margin trading isn’t listed in MEXC’s current product menu, as far as we could see. We couldn’t confirm whether it has been withdrawn.

Coins, markets and liquidity on MEXC

MEXC lists far more coins than most exchanges: 1,476 base assets across 1,867 spot markets on 23 October 2026, mostly paired with USDT. That breadth is its main draw for crypto enthusiasts hunting new tokens.

Breadth has a cost. Many of those tokens are small, with thin order books and little trading volume. On a small token, the spread between buy and sell prices can cost far more than any trading fee, and the token can fall to almost nothing. Major coins such as bitcoin and ether are available on licensed exchanges too, at fees that are only slightly higher.

MEXC account: KYC and getting started

You need to verify your identity to use MEXC properly: its terms require a passport or ID card plus a photo of you holding the ID, and allow MEXC to block withdrawals from unverified accounts. So the MEXC KYC check isn’t optional in practice: verify before you deposit, or your money can get stuck.

For EU residents we don’t give sign-up steps, because MEXC isn’t licensed to serve you. If you live outside the EU in a country MEXC serves:

• complete KYC before you deposit anything;
• start with a small deposit and a small test withdrawal;
• keep long-term holdings in a wallet you control, not on the exchange;
• check your own country’s rules: MEXC’s terms exclude the US, the UK, Canada and several Asian markets.

Verification protects you as much as the exchange: it is also how you prove an account is yours if something goes wrong.

MEXC app and support

MEXC has a mobile app and an API alongside its website. We haven’t used the MEXC app, so we can’t judge how it handles day-to-day trading, and we couldn’t verify MEXC’s support channels or response times from official sources.

For EU readers, the quality of MEXC support is a secondary question. If a dispute with MEXC support goes nowhere, there is no EU regulator or ombudsman to escalate to. If you do use MEXC from outside the EU, keep screenshots of orders, deposits and every message with the support team, with dates, in case you need to document a dispute. Do your own research on recent user reports too, and treat anonymous reviews, good or bad, with care.

How does MEXC compare with major exchanges that hold a MiCA licence?

Compared with major exchanges that hold a MiCA licence, MEXC is cheaper per trade and lists more coins, but offers none of the EU protections. For an EU resident, the licensed exchanges below are the realistic choice.

	MEXC	Bitvavo	Kraken	Bybit EU	Coinbase
MiCA licence	None	AFM (Netherlands)	Central Bank of Ireland	FMA (Austria)	CSSF (Luxembourg)
Spot fees (entry tier)	0.00% / 0.05%	0.15% / 0.25%	0.40% / 0.80%	0.25% / 0.25%	0.60% / 1.20%
Euro deposits	Not verifiable	iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA free	SEPA free	No Bybit EU fee (payment providers may charge)	SEPA free

Read our reviews of Bitvavo, Kraken and Bybit for the details. Our MEXC fees page keeps the full fee list in one place.

Who should avoid MEXC?

Every EU resident should avoid MEXC, because it has no MiCA licence. Outside the EU, it is a poor fit for beginners, for anyone using leverage without experience, and for anyone keeping long-term savings on an exchange.

MEXC can make sense if you:

• live outside the EU in a country MEXC serves;
• are an experienced trader who wants tokens that licensed exchanges don’t list;
• keep only trading money on the exchange and withdraw the rest.

Avoid MEXC if you:

• live in the EU, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland;
• want a regulator to turn to if something goes wrong;
• are tempted by leverage or copy trading without knowing the risks;
• plan to hold crypto on the platform for years.

Final verdict: should you use MEXC?

For EU residents, no. MEXC’s fees are low, but it has no MiCA licence, the AFM has warned about it, and its operator sits in the Comoros. The saving of a few euros a year doesn’t justify trusting it with your money.

If you live outside the EU and still want to use MEXC, treat it as a trading venue, not a place to store crypto: verify first, test a small withdrawal, and move long-term holdings elsewhere. Crypto prices are volatile, and you can lose all the money you put in.

How we checked this MEXC review

We checked MEXC’s fee page, terms (updated 13 October 2026), About and Proof of Trust pages, its public API, the ESMA interim MiCA register and ESMA’s non-compliant entities list on 23 October 2026. Some details, such as euro deposit fees and other regulator warnings, we couldn’t verify, and we say so above. Our methodology explains how we score.