MEXC leaves France in four batches: withdrawals end on 5 March 2027 and leftover coins go to a custodian it has not named

MEXC is closing its service to users in France. In a notice published this week, the exchange says it will “gradually wind down services for users in France in four batches”, with the first group of accounts going into reduce-only mode on 18 November 2026 and the last on 22 January 2027. Withdrawals stay open until 5 March 2027 at 00:00 Paris time. Whatever is still on an account after that goes to what MEXC calls a “regulated custodian”, which it has not named.

New sign-ups from France are already closed. The exchange, which holds no authorisation under the EU’s MiCA regulation, says every affected user will get an email giving their batch and dates. The Defiant, which reported the schedule this week, says the notice gives regulatory compliance as the reason. MEXC has not said how many French customers it has or how much they hold on the platform.

France’s market regulator had already put the site on its list of unauthorised crypto-asset providers. The AMF blacklist entry for www.mexc.com is dated 4 June 2024 and says the firm is not authorised to offer certain financial services or investments in France.

MEXC France: four batches, one shared withdrawal deadline

The notice sorts users into four groups. Each group gets a preparation period of about three weeks during which nothing changes: trading, deposits, Earn and loans all keep working. The deadline that matters is the “action required by” date at the end of that period. One minute later, at 00:00 the next day, the account switches to reduce-only mode.

MEXC gives all times in UTC+1. France moved to winter time on 25 October and stays on it until 28 March 2027, so every date in the plan, 5 March included, is in Paris time; in UTC, subtract one hour (23:59 Paris is 22:59 UTC).

Which batch a customer lands in is MEXC’s choice. The exchange says it identifies users linked to France from their KYC and account information, and it has not published the rule it uses to split them. Someone placed in batch 1 has less than three weeks from the notice. Someone in batch 4 has close to three months.

If you used MEXC from France and no email arrives, or if your nationality or country of residence is recorded wrongly, MEXC asks you to contact its customer service. It adds that a request for a review does not pause or extend the timeline unless the exchange confirms it does.

What reduce-only mode blocks, and what still works

Once a batch starts its wind-down, the account can only shrink. According to the notice, users can no longer deposit, buy on the spot market, subscribe to Earn products, take out loans or place any order that opens a position or adds to one.

They can still adjust margin, close or reduce positions, repay loans and withdraw. In practice, a trader with a leveraged futures position in batch 1 can keep managing it after 18 November, but only towards zero.

Three dates then apply to everyone, whatever the batch:

• On 22 January 2027 at 00:00, MEXC closes all remaining open positions automatically at “fair price” and settles remaining holdings based on available liquidity and market conditions.
• On 25 January 2027 at 00:00, every French account moves to withdrawal-only mode.
• On 5 March 2027 at 00:00, withdrawals close and leftover assets are transferred to a regulated custodian.

The Defiant says MEXC’s FAQ warns that the forced settlement in January may bring losses or fees. The notice does not explain how “fair price” is set or what happens to tokens with little trading volume.

Platform events end sooner. Since 28 October, French users can no longer join or continue MEXC campaigns and competitions. Rewards earned before that date will still be paid, the exchange says.

The custodian has no name yet

The weakest part of the plan is what comes after 5 March. MEXC says the identity of the custodian and the way to claim assets will come in a separate announcement. Until it arrives, nobody outside the company knows who will hold the coins, whether a fee applies or how long a claim will take.

The exchange also says it has arranged referral options with trading platforms regulated in the EU, and that eligible users will get the details by email. Accounts and assets are not moved automatically. A user who wants to go to one of those platforms has to open an account there, pass its checks and send the funds.

MEXC’s problem is the licence it never obtained. Our explainer on what the MiCA rules mean for users covers what that authorisation requires and why an exchange without it has to stop serving EU customers.

From “keep using the platform” to a French exit in four months

The French notice reverses what MEXC was telling Europeans in the summer. When MiCA’s transition period ended, Finance Magnates tested sign-ups at unlicensed exchanges on 1 July 2026 and found no restriction at MEXC. The only word on its licence the outlet found was a 23 June reply from MEXC’s X support account, which it described as saying EU users could keep using the platform and that changes would be announced in advance. In April, new chief executive Vugar Usi had called MiCA authorisation “a top strategic priority”, the same article reported.

France’s transitional regime for the old PSAN registration ran until 1 July 2026. In a press release of 6 July, the AMF said the period was over from 2 July and that crypto-asset services in the EU now need a MiCA authorisation. It pointed to an ESMA communication of 23 June asking unauthorised firms to wind down in an orderly way, said it was following those exit plans with the protection of clients as its first concern, and told French customers to use only authorised providers (PSCA). MiCA offers no equivalence for firms outside the EU.

The French market went through a sorting at the same time. Journal du Coin counted 117 PSAN registered in France on 2 July, of which 83 obtained a MiCA authorisation; the other 34 had to stop or present wind-down plans. Binance was among those without one: it told French users on 24 June that neither its French entity nor its parent would be authorised in time, and halted trading for them from 1 July.

France is not the first country MEXC has left this year. In the Netherlands, it told users by email that its services would end, and Bybit’s MiCA-authorised EU arm courted the departing customers, Cryptoast reported on 27 August.

Brazil, the other deadline this week

The Defiant set the French schedule next to a deadline in Brazil. Under central bank resolutions 519, 520 and 521, in force since 2 February 2026, crypto firms already operating in Brazil must file for authorisation by 30 October 2026. It is a deadline to file, not to hold a licence. According to The Defiant, Article 88 of Resolution 520 lets firms that filed on time keep working while their case is assessed, and those that did not must stop within 30 days. Our page on the Brazil licence filing deadline of 30 October has the background.

Whether MEXC has filed is not known, and nothing published so far says it is leaving Brazil. The date from which banks must cut off firms awaiting authorisation is reported differently by different sources, and we could not confirm it in an official text.

What French MEXC users can do before their deadline

What follows sets out what the MEXC notice and the AMF say, step by step. It is information, not investment or tax advice.

1. Look for the email giving your batch number and dates. If you used MEXC from France and nothing has arrived, go to the official site yourself, not through a link in a message, and contact support.
2. The “action required by” date is the last day on which the account works normally: 17 November, 9 December, 30 December or 21 January, each at 23:59 Paris time. After it, positions and loans can only be reduced, closed or repaid; from 22 January MEXC closes what is left itself.
3. Withdrawals stay open until 5 March 2027 at 00:00 Paris time for every batch. What happens to assets still on the account after that depends on a custodian whose name and rules are not public yet.
4. Funds can go to a wallet the user controls or to another platform. The AMF tells French clients to use only providers authorised under MiCA (PSCA), and says a receiving platform has to run its own anti-money-laundering checks before it takes on clients from a wind-down.
5. The full transaction history, deposits and withdrawals included, can be exported while the account is still open; MEXC has not said how long it will be available after 5 March.
6. The exchange says it will never ask for a password, a verification code or private keys, nor for a transfer to a “migration” or “safe” wallet. Any message that does is not from the exchange, and wind-downs draw phishing.

Whether a platform holds a MiCA licence can be checked in the European register. Our report on ESMA register of MiCA-authorised firms shows how it works and which countries already appear in it.

Taxes: the forms a MEXC account touches

For French residents, gains on crypto sales go on form 2086 and accounts held on platforms based abroad go on form 3916-bis. Our guide to how crypto is taxed in France explains both forms and the flat tax. Both forms draw on the figures a platform export contains, for 2026 and, for users still on MEXC in January, for 2027.

One question has no answer yet. No source we found says whether the automatic close of positions on 22 January, or the conversion of leftover holdings, counts as a taxable sale for a French holder. MEXC’s notice does not address it, and neither does the AMF.

A separate French rule concerns coins held on platforms. As we reported, the French tax office can make a crypto platform sell your coins, but only coins kept with a platform, not those in a wallet the holder controls.

Open questions and the next dates

Several things MEXC has not said will decide how smooth this is for French users. The custodian’s name and claim process will come later, in a separate announcement. The rule that places a user in batch 1 or batch 4 is not published. The exchange gives no count of French users or assets.

There is also no word yet on other EU countries. The notice covers France only, and it is not known whether Italian or other European users will receive a similar one.

The first hard date is 17 November at 23:59 Paris time, when batch 1 must have acted. After that come 9 December, 30 December, 21 January, the forced close on 22 January, withdrawal-only mode on 25 January and the end of withdrawals on 5 March 2027.