MEXC is closing French accounts: the four batches, every date, and where to move your crypto

What MEXC announced, stage by stage

The official notice talks about "regulatory alignment in France". In plain terms: MEXC never obtained a MiCA authorisation, has sat on the AMF blacklist since 4 June 2024, and the European transition period ended on 1 July 2026. The exchange had already stopped taking new French sign-ups; it is now disconnecting existing accounts, with the same four-batch mechanism it used in the Netherlands a few weeks earlier.

• Until your deadline (23:59, UTC+1, depending on your batch): the account works as usual. This is the window to sell, transfer and withdraw without constraints.
• One minute later: the account enters reduce-only mode. You can still adjust margin, reduce or close a position, repay a loan and withdraw. No deposits, no new exposure.
• 22 January 2027, 00:00: MEXC force-closes any position still open. The platform's own FAQ warns that this closure may cause losses or fees.
• 25 January 2027, 00:00: every French account switches to withdrawal-only. No more selling, only moving tokens out as they are.
• 5 March 2027, 00:00: withdrawals close. Whatever is left goes to a regulated custodian MEXC has not named yet, with a claim process to be announced "separately". Nobody knows today how long that will take.

Two details matter. MEXC moves nothing on its own: "your MEXC account and assets will not be automatically transferred to another platform". And the notice mentions "referral options" with EU-regulated venues, without naming them at this stage. You do not need to wait for that list.

Emptying the account in the right order

1. Export your history today. Trades, deposits, withdrawals, fees: everything you need to rebuild acquisition costs for your 2027 tax return. Once the account is disconnected, getting a statement becomes a support ticket with no promised turnaround.
2. Close futures and margin positions yourself. A manual close before your deadline happens at a price you choose. The forced close on 22 January happens at whatever the market is doing, and MEXC itself says it may cost fees.
3. Cancel pending orders, including conditional orders set months ago. An order that fills after your last withdrawal leaves a residue you will have to come back for.
4. Deal with the small caps. Tokens only MEXC lists will lose liquidity as French users leave. Selling for USDT now, even a bit low, beats a token stuck in withdrawal-only mode in late January. In France a crypto-to-crypto swap is not a taxable disposal; a sale into euros is.
5. Open and verify the receiving account before the first withdrawal. Identity checks take minutes on OKX and on Kraken, but not at 23:50 on the night of your deadline.
6. Withdraw network by network, with a test first. Read the network the receiving side accepts, pick the same one on MEXC, send a small amount, wait for it to land, then send the rest. On XRP, XLM, TON or ATOM, the memo is part of the address.

Where to go: OKX or Kraken

Since 1 July 2026 a French resident can only open an account with a MiCA-licensed provider. Two of them cover what MEXC customers came for.

OKX if you were on MEXC for the catalogue and the fees. OKX Europe Ltd has been authorised by Malta's MFSA since 27 January 2025, lists several hundred spot pairs, charges 0.08% maker and 0.10% taker at the base tier, and launched in September 2026 the OKX Shield programme, covering up to EUR 100,000 on a properly locked account. Our full test sits in the OKX review 2026, and the regulatory file in OKX's licences and track record, date by date.

Kraken if your priority is spot in euros, SEPA transfers and a company that has been around since 2011. Payward Europe holds a MiCA authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland dated 25 June 2025. The Kraken Pro schedule, rebuilt in July 2026, starts at 0.40%/0.80% and drops quickly with assets held on the platform: the Kraken Pro tiers in detail and our Kraken review 2026.