If you use Coinbase in Ireland and still had Tether in your account on Friday, it is no longer going to stay as Tether. The exchange’s deadline for customers in the European Economic Area (EEA) to withdraw 14 stablecoins that fall foul of EU crypto rules passed on 30 October, and Coinbase has said any remaining balances will be converted.
The move is a direct result of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, and it lands just over a week after the Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase’s Irish unit €3.25 million over failures to protect customer money.
Which coins are affected
According to Coinbase’s help centre notice, as reported by CoinMarketCap and NewsBTC, the affected tokens are: USDT (Tether), PAX, PYUSD, GUSD, GYEN, DAI, BUST, UST, RAI, PAXG, MUSD, USD1, USDS and TGBP.
Coinbase said it can no longer support these coins for EEA customers because their issuers are not authorised under MiCA. The transition period for stablecoin issuers ended on 1 July 2026 and was not extended, CoinMarketCap reported. Buying, selling and swapping the tokens on Coinbase was already restricted, leaving withdrawal to an outside wallet as the only way to keep them.
What happens to your money
Coinbase said balances still held after the deadline would be converted at the market rate into USDC where suitable, or into another supported asset or currency where not. USDC is a dollar stablecoin issued by Circle that Coinbase supports in Europe.
There are some important catches flagged in the notice:
- The conversion may count as a taxable event in some countries. Irish holders who are unsure should check with Revenue guidance or a tax adviser.
- Conversion at the market rate does not guarantee you get the full face value of the original stablecoin.
- Any of the affected coins sent to Coinbase after the deadline will not be credited, and recovery is not guaranteed even where it is technically possible.
- Coinbase said it would look again if a coin later becomes MiCA-compliant, but completed conversions will not be reversed.
The change applies only to Coinbase’s retail customers in the EEA, which covers EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. CoinMarketCap reported that Coinbase’s EEA exchange services are provided by Coinbase Luxembourg, which is authorised under MiCA by Luxembourg’s regulator, the CSSF.
Fresh Irish fine for Coinbase
The timing is awkward for the US exchange in Ireland. On 22 October, the Central Bank of Ireland said it had fined Coinbase Ireland €3.25 million following a settlement, Reuters and CoinDesk reported. The regulator found the firm breached safeguarding and outsourcing rules between 2020 and 2025.
The Central Bank said Coinbase Ireland relied too heavily on its US parent group and did not adequately protect customer funds. CoinDesk reported that coding errors left the firm’s safeguarding account underfunded by an average of 0.54% in 2023 and the first half of 2024, and that in 2023 some customer money was held alongside funds belonging to another Coinbase entity.
Karen O’Leary, the Central Bank’s director of enforcement, said the bank has “no tolerance for weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements”. Coinbase said it self-reported the issues and that no customer lost money or was unable to access funds. It is the second Irish penalty for the group in about a year, after a Coinbase subsidiary was fined more than €21 million over anti-money laundering monitoring failures.
What happens next
For most people with small balances, the practical effect is that their Tether becomes USDC or another supported asset. Anyone who wants to keep holding Tether or the other affected tokens would need to use a wallet or platform that still supports them, and should check carefully that the provider is properly regulated.
The wider message is that MiCA now has teeth. Other exchanges serving EU customers face the same rules, and stablecoins whose issuers lack EU authorisation are likely to keep being squeezed off regulated European platforms unless they obtain approval. Coinbase has not said whether any of the 14 coins is close to doing so.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Crypto-assets are volatile and you can lose money.
Sources
- CoinMarketCap: Coinbase to Convert EU Users’ USDT, PYUSD and USD1 Into USDC on Oct. 30 (late October 2026)
- TradingView / NewsBTC: Coinbase Sets October 30 Deadline for Restricted Stablecoins in EEA (October 2026)
- CoinDesk: Central bank fines Coinbase Ireland $3.6 million over fund safeguarding failures (22 October 2026)
- Reuters via Euronext: Irish central bank fines Coinbase unit €3.25 million (22 October 2026)
Featured image: photo by Traxer on Unsplash.
Leave a Reply