OKX Europe has launched a one-way conversion feature allowing customers to deposit USDT and convert it to USDC, providing a regulated migration path as European Union Marketplaces in Crypto Assets (MiCA) rules limit support for the world’s largest stablecoin.
According to a company announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the feature allows customers to deposit Tether’s USDt (USDT) into their OKX Europe account and convert the tokens to USDC (USDC), one of the largest stablecoins available under the European Union’s MiCA framework.
Tether failed to gain permission to issue USDT under MiCA, prompting many European platforms to restrict deposits, remove trading pairs, or convert customer balances to compliant alternatives, as the European Union completed the framework’s rollout on July 1.
OKX Europe said the feature is designed for customers whose existing platforms no longer accept USDT or plan to automatically migrate their balances. The exchange said conversions can be made at the customer’s discretion rather than within a platform-imposed time frame.
The move comes even as USDT remains the world’s dominant stablecoin. According to DefiLlama, Tether represents about 59% of the nearly $310 billion stablecoin market, with a market cap of about $184 billion, compared to Circle’s USDC of about $73 billion.
OKX Europe serves customers in 30 EU and European Economic Area countries under its MiCA license.
Source: ChallengeLlama
Related: ESMA adds 14 new CASPs to MiCA register as licensing slows
Why did Tether reject MiCA?
Tether defended its decision not to seek MiCA Authorization for USDTalthough the move prompted many European crypto platforms to remove or restrict the stablecoin. Since the EU regulatory framework came into effect at the end of 2024, trade in the region has steered users towards MiCA-compliant alternatives.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has repeatedly criticized MiCA, arguing that its reserve requirements create unnecessary risks for stablecoin issuers by requiring a portion of reserves to be held with European credit institutions.
In an interview with Cointelegraph in May 2025, Ardoino described the framework as “very dangerous as far as stablecoins are concerned,” saying that Tether chose not to seek authorization despite the likelihood of USDT losing support on European exchanges.
The company has shown no signs of changing course. In a July 2025 article on
Source: Paolo Ardoino
Recently, digital banking platform Revolut announced that it would stop supporting USDT for customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, giving users until August 31 to sell or withdraw their holdings before automatically converting remaining balances to their base currency.
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