How to Check if a Crypto Company Is Licensed: Where to Look

Last reviewed: 2 October 2026

To check if a crypto company is licensed, find the regulator for your country and service, search its official register yourself, and see what registration or authorisation it records for the exact legal company in your contract. Then check its status, activities and country. A logo on the company’s website proves nothing.

This guide covers where to look. Our guide on how to read a VASP register entry explains what each field of an entry proves.

Is “registered” the same as “licensed”?

No. Some registers record an anti-money-laundering filing or check. Others record a full licence or authorisation that covers how the firm runs the service.

The UK FCA says on its cryptoasset AML page that its role under the current regime is “limited to AML/CTF registration, supervision and enforcement only”, and that registration “is not a recommendation or endorsement”. It also does not bring Financial Ombudsman or FSCS cover. FinCEN goes further. Its MSB Registrant Search states that FinCEN “does not license or vet the information provided by registrants”, and warns that fraudsters misuse the registration process.

A MiCA authorisation in the EU, a Major Payment Institution licence in Singapore and a VARA licence in Dubai are licences: the regulator assessed the firm before it could start. VARA’s register also lists firms with in-principle approval, and its public register page says those firms “are strictly prohibited” from serving clients until they hold the full licence.

Which register should you check in each country?

• European Union. ESMA’s interim MiCA register lists authorised crypto-asset service providers in a downloadable file. ESMA says it republishes the file weekly, so also check the home regulator’s own register named in the entry.
• United Kingdom. Search the FCA’s Financial Services Register or its newer Firm Checker. Crypto firms registered for anti-money-laundering purposes have their own list on the register. A new FCA authorisation regime is due to start on 25 October 2027, as our guide to the UK FCA crypto regime explains.
• United States. FinCEN’s MSB Registrant Search shows the federal anti-money-laundering registration, not a licence. Licences are issued by states, so also check your state regulator’s own lookup; many states also record theirs on NMLS Consumer Access. New York’s regulator, NYDFS, publishes its own list of licensed virtual currency firms.
• Singapore. The MAS Financial Institutions Directory shows each licensee and its licensed services. For crypto, look for “Digital Payment Token Service”. The MAS Investor Alert List names firms that may be wrongly seen as MAS-regulated.
• Dubai. VARA’s public register lists licensed firms with their licence number, activities, issue date and status.

What did we find when we checked eight exchanges?

On 2 October 2026 we looked up eight well-known exchanges. We downloaded the ESMA file (364 entries) and FinCEN’s full MSB list (33,953 entries), read the MAS directory and VARA’s licensed list (56 firms), and used our capture of the FCA crypto register from the same day (68 records). We searched for each brand and its known legal names.

Only Crypto.com appeared on all five. Bybit appeared only in the EU file, through its Austrian company. Counting the group companies the table leaves out, we found 35 entries, each for a different legal company. No brand used the same company on two registers. “Not found” means not found under the names we searched on that date. The firm may not serve that country, or may use another name or another firm’s permission. FinCEN also says not every current registrant is shown.

We could not check New York: the NYDFS site blocked our requests. We do not use NMLS, which requires accepting its terms first. For Dubai we read only the licensed list.

How do you match a trading name to the legal company?

Open the terms of service and find the company that contracts with you. Gemini’s US user agreement page, for example, sends residents of five states to Gemini Trust Company, LLC and residents of the other listed states to Gemini Moonbase, LLC. OKX’s terms name OKX Inc. as “OKX US”. Then search that exact name on the register, not the brand. Where a register gives an identifier, such as the LEI in ESMA’s file or the firm reference number at the FCA, compare that too.

Check that the entry covers your country and the service you plan to use. Coinbase’s EU entry does not, by itself, cover a UK customer.

Why is a matching name not enough?

Besides the companies in the table, FinCEN’s list held 12 more entries whose names contain or resemble these brand names, most with Colorado addresses. We could not connect any of them to the brands through the terms we read. That is not evidence of wrongdoing by anyone. It shows that a name alone tells you nothing.

Clone firms are a separate risk. The FCA’s clone firms page says scammers copy a real firm’s name, address or reference number, change the phone number or email, and may claim the register’s contact details are out of date. Our guide to crypto scam red flags covers the wider warning signs.

How can you check a licence in five minutes?

1. Find the legal company. Copy the contracting entity for your country from the terms.
2. Open the register yourself. Type the regulator’s address yourself, then compare any number the firm gives with the entry.
3. Search the legal name. Match the name, and the LEI or reference number where shown.
4. Read the status. Registered, authorised, in-principle approval, notified, withdrawn and lapsed mean different things.
5. Check the scope. The entry should cover your country and the service you will use.
6. Compare contact details. Use only the contact details on the register. If there are none, contact the regulator.
7. Check the warning lists. Search the FCA Warning List, the MAS Investor Alert List or ESMA’s non-compliant entities file. Absence from a warning list does not mean a firm is licensed.

A current authorisation shows permission for the activities and countries it covers; an AML registration or FinCEN listing is less. No register entry shows that a firm is solvent or that your coins are safe. The next step is the full routine in our guide on how to check a crypto company before you use it.

Sources

• ESMA, MiCA page and interim MiCA register (CASP file downloaded 2 October 2026)
• FCA, Cryptoassets: AML/CTF regime, Clone firms and individuals and the cryptoasset firms register
• FinCEN, MSB Registrant Search (full list downloaded 2 October 2026)
• MAS, Financial Institutions Directory, digital payment token licensees and Investor Alert List
• VARA, Public Register (licensed VASPs, read 2 October 2026)