Europe

Romania crypto restrictions and exchange access

Romania has not yet named an authority to license crypto firms under MiCA, so Romanians are served by exchanges licensed in other EU countries.

Available

of 22 platforms

Limited

of 22 platforms

Restricted

of 22 platforms

Regulators

Top exchanges by access score

Last updated 20 Oct 2026

Map of Romania and its neighbours with Romania highlighted, beside the 22 tracked platforms grouped by status in Romania: 2 restricted (Gemini, HTX), 9 limited, 11 available. Right: no Romanian authority was designated to license crypto firms when the MiCA transition ended on 1 July 2026; gains from crypto are taxed at 16% from 2026, up from 10%, filed on Form 212 by 25 May.

Is crypto legal in Romania?

Yes. We found no Romanian law that bans holding or trading crypto, and the tax authority taxes the gains. What Romania lacks is the national law that would let a regulator license crypto firms under MiCA.

The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) applies in Romania directly, but each country must name a regulator to authorise providers. In a 1 July 2026 interview with Ziarul Bursa, the ASF’s first vice-president said no authority is currently designated, and the ASF repeated in a written reply to StartupCafe that it cannot receive applications. The licensing procedure can start only after a national law designates the authority. We could not read the Monitorul Oficial text ourselves, so this rests on those press reports of ASF statements. Some law-firm pages say an ordinance of March 2025 already named the ASF; the ASF’s own July statements say otherwise, and we found no text that settles it.

The designation is a draft. A government ordinance on MiCA implementation had its first reading on 2 April 2026. A law-firm commentary on an earlier version says it gives the ASF supervision of crypto-asset service providers and leaves the National Bank (BNR) with e-money tokens issued by banks and e-money institutions. We found no report of its adoption, and the government that put it forward fell in May 2026. The European Commission has opened an infringement case over the missing legislation.

The EU-wide transition ended on 1 July 2026, and ESMA says unauthorised firms must stop serving EU clients. Before MiCA, Romanian virtual-currency providers notified the anti-money-laundering office (ONPCSB) under Law 129/2019, and those registered before 30 December 2024 could keep operating under national rules until July 2026. We found no ANAF register of crypto providers: ANAF is the tax authority. Providers licensed in another EU country can still serve Romania on a passport, which is how every exchange in the next section reaches Romanian users.

Which crypto exchanges work in Romania?

Seven of the exchanges we track serve Romanian users under a MiCA licence from another EU country: Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Bitstamp, Bybit, Crypto.com and Gate. Four are fully available; Bybit, Crypto.com and Gate are limited because they offer no derivatives here.

None of them holds a Romanian licence, because none can be granted. ESMA’s interim MiCA register has no authorised provider with Romania as its home country, and it lists Romania as a passport country for each of the seven. KuCoin EU and Gemini also carry a Romanian passport, but KuCoin’s trading is suspended and Gemini has closed every EEA account, so both sit among the platforms below.

Best crypto platforms for Romanian residents

By our access score, Bitstamp and Kraken (each 8.0 out of 10) are the most open exchanges for Romanian users, with Coinbase and OKX (7.5) next. Kalshi and all six on-chain platforms we track score 8.0, while Polymarket, on the gambling blacklist, scores 6.3.

The score rates how fully a Romanian resident can use each platform, not its fees or safety. It is computed from our data and moves when a row changes: access status (4 points), the share of the platform’s products open here (3), the licences we hold on file for Romania (2) and what our geo-access test saw from a Romanian address (1). No platform earns the licence points, because no licence can be booked to Romania. Platforms that refuse Romanian users are not scored. The full method is on our methodology page.

Exchanges

Bitstamp
Best for Spot trading from a long-running EU licence
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Bitstamp Europe S.A. holds a CSSF MiCA licence from 15 May 2025, passported to Romania
- Our test loaded the site with no barrier
Cons
- No Romanian entity: served from Luxembourg
Read our Bitstamp report
Kraken
Best for A MiCA-licensed exchange with a wide product range
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Payward Europe Solutions holds a Central Bank of Ireland MiCA licence with a Romanian passport
- Our test loaded sign-up from a Romanian address with no barrier
Cons
- No Romanian entity: served from Ireland
Read our Kraken report
Coinbase
Best for A MiCA-licensed exchange from Luxembourg
7.5/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
0.5/1
Pros
- Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. holds a CSSF MiCA licence with a Romanian passport
- Our data shows no carve-outs for Romania
Cons
- No Romanian entity: served from Luxembourg
- Our test showed a notice that stocks and prediction markets are unavailable
Read our Coinbase report
OKX
Best for A global brand with a local EU site
7.5/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
0.5/1
Pros
- OKX Europe Limited holds an MFSA MiCA licence from 27 January 2025, passported to Romania
- okx.com sends Romanian visitors to OKX Europe
Cons
- Served from Malta, not by a Romanian entity
Read our OKX report
Bybit
Best for Spot trading on an Austrian licence
6.9/10
Access
3.5/4
Products
2.4/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Bybit EU GmbH holds an Austrian MiCA licence with a Romanian passport
- Our test loaded sign-up with no barrier
Cons
- Bybit EU offers no derivatives
- EEA access to Bybit Global, which does, is being wound down
Read our Bybit report
Crypto.com
Best for Spot trading in an app
6.3/10
Access
3.5/4
Products
1.8/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Foris DAX MT Limited holds a Malta MiCA licence from 27 January 2025, passported to Romania
- Spot trading and the app are offered
Cons
- Derivatives are on its geo-restrictions list for Romania
Read our Crypto.com report
Gate
Best for Spot trading on a licensed EU arm
5.5/10
Access
3.5/4
Products
1.5/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
0.5/1
Pros
- Gate Technology Ltd holds a Maltese MiCA licence with a Romanian passport
- Spot trading is open to Romanian users
Cons
- No derivatives: global Gate stopped taking EEA users in March 2025
- Our test showed an EU-region notice at sign-up
Read our Gate report

Perpetuals

Aster
Best for Perpetuals from your own wallet
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Romania is not on its prohibited-jurisdictions list
- Its trading app loaded in our test
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
Read our Aster report
Hyperliquid
Best for Perpetuals and spot on a decentralised exchange
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Romania is not excluded by its terms
- Its app loaded in our test with no barrier
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
Read our Hyperliquid report
Lighter
Best for Perpetual futures from your own wallet
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Romania is not named in its terms
- Its trading app loaded in our test
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
Read our Lighter report

DeFi

Jupiter
Best for Solana swaps
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Romania is not in its terms
- Its app loaded in our test
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
Read our Jupiter report
PancakeSwap
Best for BNB Chain swaps and pools
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Not excluded by its terms
- The swap page loaded in our test
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
Read our PancakeSwap report
Uniswap
Best for Swapping tokens from your own wallet
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Its terms bar only places under comprehensive US sanctions
- Our test loaded the swap app from a Romanian address
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
Read our Uniswap report

Prediction markets

Kalshi
Best for Event contracts on a US-regulated exchange
8.0/10
Access
4/4
Products
3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Romania is not on its restricted-jurisdictions list
- Its sign-up page loaded in our test with no barrier
Cons
- No licence on file for Romania
- The gambling regulator blacklisted its peer Polymarket in October 2025
Read our Kalshi report
Polymarket
Best for The widest range of event markets
6.3/10
Access
3/4
Products
2.3/3
Licences
0/2
Our test
1/1
Pros
- Romania is not on its own restricted list
- Its site loaded from our test address
Cons
- The gambling regulator ONJN blacklisted it and asked providers to block it
- A court declined to suspend the blacklisting, according to press reports
Read our Polymarket report

Which platforms block Romanian users?

Two of the 22 platforms we track refuse Romanian users: Gemini and HTX. Nine more are limited: five lack a working MiCA licence, three offer only part of their service, and one is on the gambling blacklist.

Gemini closed every UK and EEA account on 6 April 2026, and HTX’s user agreement bars all EU member states. Since 23 August 2026 EU sanctions on Russia-linked providers also ban dealings with HTX, under Regulation (EU) 2026/1848.

The limited platforms are mostly MiCA casualties. Binance told European users about its licensing delay in June 2026, and Euronews reported that it would halt services across EU countries; its Romanian status follows that wind-down, with existing users able to withdraw. Bitget applied to Austria’s FMA on 2 July 2026 and says it will serve the EU once authorised. KuCoin EU’s trading has been suspended since February 2026.

Platforms that refuse or restrict Romanian usersPick one to see what we found

Platform	Status	Type	What we found
Gemini	Restricted	Exchange	Closed every UK and EEA account on 6 April 2026; its sign-up page refused us from Romania
HTX	Restricted	Exchange	Its user agreement bars all EU states, and EU sanctions ban dealings with HTX from 23 August 2026
Binance	Limited	Exchange	No MiCA licence since 1 July 2026: sign-ups, deposits and trading closed, existing users can withdraw
KuCoin	Limited	Exchange	KuCoin EU has had trading and deposits suspended since 4 February 2026, and the Austrian FMA still bars it from starting business
MEXC	Limited	Exchange	No MiCA licence; ESMA lists it as non-compliant
Bitfinex	Limited	Exchange	No Bitfinex company is on ESMA’s register, yet sign-up stays open
Bitget	Limited	Exchange	Bitget EU applied to the Austrian FMA on 2 July 2026 and will serve the EU only once authorised
Polymarket	Limited	Prediction market	Blacklisted by the gambling regulator ONJN in October 2025, which asked providers to block it

Source: platform terms and notices, ESMA, EU Official Journal, ONJN via press reports, verified 19 October 2026. What each site showed us is in the next section.

What our geo-access test saw from Romania

From a Romanian address on 14 and 16 October 2026 we loaded 22 of the platforms we track: 1 refused us, 5 showed a notice or a redirect, and 16 loaded with no barrier.

An open page is not permission. Binance, HTX, MEXC and Polymarket all loaded although their terms, notices, sanctions or a regulator say Romania should not be served; our test address sees a platform’s own geo-blocking, not a block applied by a Romanian internet provider. The one refusal was Gemini (“Gemini does not currently operate in Romania”). The five notices were a European regulatory information link at Binance, Coinbase’s notice that stocks and prediction markets are unavailable, an EU-region prompt at Gate, a KuCoin suggestion to switch to its EU site and OKX’s redirect to its European site. Swipe through the screenshots below; each card quotes what the page showed.

Who regulates crypto in Romania?

Nobody yet licenses crypto firms. The ASF is expected to, once a national law names it; the anti-money-laundering office keeps the old provider notifications, the gambling office runs a blacklist, and the tax agency ANAF taxes gains and receives DAC8 reports.

ASF. The Financial Supervisory Authority is not yet designated. The draft ordinance would make it the MiCA authority for crypto-asset service providers, and it already authorises crypto ATM operators, according to Piata Financiara. We found no ASF warning naming any platform we track.
BNR. The National Bank is slated, under the same draft, to supervise e-money token issuers that are banks or e-money institutions.
ONPCSB. The anti-money-laundering office took notifications from virtual-currency providers under Law 129/2019. We could not read its register, and we found no source for its status after 1 July 2026.
ONJN. The National Gambling Office keeps the blacklist of unlicensed gambling sites, covered in the prediction-markets section.
ANAF. The tax agency sets the crypto tax rules and receives provider reports, covered in the tax section.

Which crypto products are limited in Romania?

Spot trading is the open product. Derivatives are the narrowest: Bybit EU, Crypto.com and Gate offer none to Romanian users, and the one prediction market we track as limited is blacklisted.

Derivatives. Bybit EU offers no derivatives, and EEA access to Bybit Global is being wound down. Crypto.com lists Romania on its derivatives geo-restrictions. Gate’s EU arm has no derivatives, and global Gate stopped taking EEA users in March 2025. Perpetuals on Aster, Hyperliquid and Lighter load from Romania and are not excluded by their terms.
Prediction markets. Kalshi is open and Polymarket is limited, as the next section explains.

Are prediction markets legal in Romania?

Unsettled in law, and blocked in practice for one platform. The gambling regulator ONJN blacklisted Polymarket in October 2025 as unlicensed betting, while Kalshi is open to Romanian addresses and we found no Romanian action naming it.

Press reports of the ONJN notice, such as Financial Intelligence on 30 October 2025, say the office put Polymarket on its blacklist as an unlicensed operator of counterparty bets and told internet providers to block access for players in Romania. Decrypt reports the legal basis as the gambling ordinance 77/2009. A Bucharest court reportedly declined to suspend the decision in April 2026. We could not read the ONJN’s own notice, because its website returned errors, so every ONJN detail here comes from press reports.

Polymarket does not list Romania itself, and its site loaded from our test address, so the practical block sits with Romanian providers. Kalshi does not name Romania either. We found no Romanian bill on prediction markets, and no ONJN action against Kalshi or any other platform.

How is crypto taxed in Romania?

Selling crypto at a profit is taxed as income from other sources, at a rate Law 239 raised for gains made from 1 January 2026. A gain under 200 lei on a sale is untaxed if the year’s gains total 600 lei or less, and you work out and declare the tax yourself.

Crypto gains of individuals count as “income from other sources” under the Fiscal Code, according to an ANAF leaflet that still shows the old 10% rate, so we use it for classification and procedure only. The rate comes from Law 239 of 15 December 2025, which repeals the 10% rule and sets 16% on the gain from transferring virtual currency, meaning the sale price minus the purchase price and direct transaction costs. It applies to gains made from 1 January 2026, so the first returns at 16% are due in May 2027. The same law keeps the exemption for a gain under 200 lei per transaction when the year’s gains total no more than 600 lei.

You work out the tax yourself in the single return (Form 212), converting to lei at the National Bank rate; nothing is withheld. The Fiscal Code defines a transfer to include exchanging one property right for another, so a swap between cryptocurrencies falls inside it, though the ANAF leaflet does not name swaps. It does not address mining, staking or airdrops either, and we could not verify from the primary text whether health contributions (CASS) apply on top.

Reporting is tightening. Emergency Ordinance 71/2025 carries the EU’s DAC8 rules into Romanian law, and ANAF’s guide for providers says the rules apply from 1 January 2026, with the first reports, covering 2026 transactions, due in 2027 by 15 March.

Working out the tax on a Romanian crypto saleFor a private person, from ANAF’s guidance and Law 239/2025

Step	Detail
Find each sale	A sale or exchange of crypto for money, goods or other crypto is a transfer
Work out each gain	Sale price minus purchase price and direct transaction costs, converted to lei at the National Bank rate
Check the exemption	A gain under 200 lei is untaxed if all the year’s gains total 600 lei or less
Apply the rate	16% on gains made from 1 January 2026; 10% on gains made in 2025
File Form 212	By 25 May of the next year, calculating the tax yourself

Source: Law 239/2025, ANAF leaflet, checked 19 October 2026.

Sources: Ziarul Bursa: Romania has no authority designated to apply the EU crypto-asset regulation: ASF first vice-president (1 July 2026), StartupCafe (1: Crypto platforms cannot be authorised by the ASF because Romania has no national law (5 July 2026), 2: Romania in infringement procedure over its digital-asset market legislation (4 June 2026)), Romanian Government: Acts adopted at the Government meeting of 2 April 2026 (draft MiCA ordinance, first reading), JURIDICE.ro: Baciu Partners: the regulation of crypto-assets in Romania, on the draft ordinance (16 June 2025), Piata Financiara: From 1 July 2026, unauthorised MiCA crypto platforms can no longer operate in Romania (19 June 2026), ESMA (1: Interim MiCA register: authorised crypto-asset service providers (CASPS.csv), 2: Statement on the end of transitional periods under MiCA (17 April 2026), 3: Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and its transitional period), Gemini: Areas of availability, with the UK and EEA closure notice, Polymarket: Help: geographic restrictions (14 August 2026), Kalshi: Member Agreement, section VI: restricted jurisdictions, European Union: Regulation (EU) 2026/1848: Russia-sanctions package listing crypto-asset service providers (July 2026), Euronews: Binance to halt crypto services across EU countries after failing to secure MiCA approval (25 June 2026), Binance: An update on our MiCA licensing journey in Europe (16 June 2026), Bitget: Bitget EU applies for MiCA authorisation with the Austrian FMA (2 July 2026), KuCoin: KuCoin EU update (30 June 2026), Financial Intelligence: ONJN decides to block the Polymarket platform (30 October 2025), Decrypt: Romanian regulator blacklists Polymarket as gambling (1 November 2025), Sigma World: Romanian court keeps the Polymarket ONJN blacklist (April 2026), ANAF (1: Law 239 of 15 December 2025 (Fiscal Code amendments, 16% rate on crypto gains), 2: Leaflet: tax on income from the transfer of virtual currency (Brasov), 3: Guide for reporting crypto-asset service providers (DAC8)), checked 19 Oct 2026.

Platform availability

Explore which exchanges and prediction markets are available in Romania.

Platform	Type	Spot	Derivatives	Staking	Status	Last verified
Aster	DeFi	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
Binance	Exchange	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	28 Sep 2026
Bitfinex	Exchange	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	17 Oct 2026
Bitget	Exchange	Limited	Limited	–	Limited	16 Oct 2026
Bitstamp	Exchange	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
Bybit	Exchange	Available	Limited	Limited	Limited	17 Oct 2026
Coinbase	Exchange	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
Crypto.com	Exchange	Available	Restricted	–	Limited	17 Oct 2026
Gate	Exchange	Available	Restricted	–	Limited	17 Oct 2026
Gemini	Exchange	Restricted	Restricted	Restricted	Restricted	17 Oct 2026
HTX	Exchange	Restricted	Restricted	Restricted	Restricted	20 Oct 2026
Hyperliquid	DeFi	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
Jupiter	DeFi	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
Kalshi	Prediction market	–	–	–	Available	17 Oct 2026
Kraken	Exchange	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
KuCoin	Exchange	Limited	Limited	–	Limited	16 Oct 2026
Lighter	DeFi	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
MEXC	Exchange	Limited	Limited	–	Limited	17 Oct 2026
OKX	Exchange	Available	Available	Available	Available	16 Oct 2026
PancakeSwap	DeFi	Available	Available	Available	Available	17 Oct 2026
Polymarket	Prediction market	–	–	–	Limited	19 Oct 2026
Uniswap	DeFi	Available	–	–	Available	17 Oct 2026