Is Monero legal in the EU? What changes in 2027

As of November 2026, no EU law bans owning or using Monero. The big change comes on 10 July 2027, when banks and crypto-asset service providers must stop keeping accounts that allow anonymous transactions, “including through anonymity-enhancing coins”.^[1] The rule targets those firms, not coins people hold in their own wallets.

Is it legal to own Monero in the EU?

Yes, at EU level. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the EU’s main crypto law, applies to people and companies that issue crypto-assets, offer them to the public, seek their admission to trading, or “provide services related to crypto-assets in the Union”.^[2] It also says that providers of hardware or software for non-custodial wallets, the kind where you hold your own keys, fall outside its scope.^[2]

The EU’s anti-money-laundering rules work the same way. They set duties for banks, other financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs): exchanges, brokers and custodians.^[1] None of the EU texts covered on this page makes it an offence for a person to hold Monero in a wallet they control. Member states keep their own criminal and tax laws, though, so check the rules where you live. Our country-by-country guide covers other places.

What does MiCA say about privacy coins?

MiCA’s rules for crypto-asset service providers have applied since 30 December 2024.^[3] Article 76 sets the rules for crypto trading platforms, and paragraph 3 is the one that matters for Monero:

“The operating rules of the trading platform for crypto-assets shall prevent the admission to trading of crypto-assets that have an inbuilt anonymisation function unless the holders of those crypto-assets and their transaction history can be identified by the crypto-asset service providers operating a trading platform for crypto-assets.”^[2]

Monero hides the sender, the receiver and the amount of every payment by default; our guide to how private Monero is explains how. A platform that wanted to list it would have to show it could still identify who holds the coins and their transaction history. The rule binds trading platforms, not the people who buy or hold coins.

Firms that already served customers under older national rules could keep going during a transition period. That period ended across the EU on 1 July 2026. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) says that any firm providing crypto-asset services to EU clients without a MiCA licence after that date “will be in breach of EU law”.^[4]

Will Monero be banned in the EU in 2027?

Not for individuals, on the text as adopted. The Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 (AMLR), applies from 10 July 2027.^[1] Its Article 79 says credit institutions, financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers “shall be prohibited from keeping” anonymous accounts. That includes “any account otherwise allowing for the anonymisation of the customer account holder or the anonymisation or increased obfuscation of transactions, including through anonymity-enhancing coins”.^[1]

The regulation defines anonymity-enhancing coins as crypto-assets with “built-in features designed to make crypto-asset transfer information anonymous, either systematically or optionally”.^[1] It doesn’t name any coin. Monero’s privacy features are built in and apply to every transaction.

Recital 160, which explains the ban, also says where it stops: “That prohibition does not apply to providers of hardware and software or providers of self-hosted wallets insofar as they do not possess access to or control over those crypto-asset wallets.”^[1]

What is the EU travel rule, and does it affect Monero?

The recast Transfer of Funds Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, has applied since 30 December 2024.^[5] It makes a CASP attach the sender’s and recipient’s names and their wallet addresses or account numbers to every crypto transfer it handles, with no exemption for small amounts. For a transfer of more than €1,000 to a self-hosted address, the sending CASP must also take steps to check whether its customer owns or controls that address.^[5]

The regulation doesn’t apply to a “person-to-person transfer of crypto-assets carried out without the involvement of a crypto-asset service provider”.^[5] It is about the customer details providers record and pass on, not about what a coin’s blockchain shows. The tighter limits on Monero come from MiCA’s listing rule and, from 2027, the AMLR.

Can you still buy Monero on EU exchanges?

Not on Kraken. It stopped Monero trading and deposits for clients in Ireland and Belgium on 10 May 2024 and delisted the coin there on 10 June 2024, converting leftover balances to bitcoin.^[6] Later that year it withdrew Monero across the European Economic Area (EEA), saying regulatory changes had left it no choice. EEA trading and deposits stopped on 31 October 2024, the withdrawal deadline was 31 December 2024, and balances still held after that were converted to bitcoin.^[7]

As of November 2026, Kraken’s page on its licences still lists Monero (XMR) among the assets that clients in the EEA cannot deposit or trade. The same page says its EU businesses are authorised as crypto-asset service providers under MiCA by the Central Bank of Ireland.^[8] Regulation is only one reason exchanges drop Monero; our guide to why exchanges delist Monero covers the others.

How is Monero taxed in the EU?

There is no single EU tax on crypto: each member state taxes gains and income under its own law. What the EU has harmonised is reporting. Under Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226, known as DAC8, member states must apply rules from 1 January 2026 that make reporting crypto-asset service providers send information about their users and their transactions to the tax authorities, which share it with other member states.^[9]

What changes, and when?

Outside the EU the rules differ. See our guides for the UK and the US.