Your Crypto Exchange Is Telling You to Withdraw: How to Spot Phishing After the MiCA Deadline

Since 1 July 2026, crypto service providers in the European Union may only operate if they hold an authorisation under the MiCA regulation. Anyone who failed to obtain one by that date has to wind down their EU business and ask customers to withdraw their balances. A wave of fraud has grown out of exactly that: tens of thousands of investors across Europe are right now receiving a perfectly legitimate message telling them to move their money elsewhere. For criminals this is the most convenient starting position in years, because their own demand no longer has to sound plausible. It only has to look genuine. Supervisors in several EU member states have issued warnings over the past few days. According to the French markets regulator AMF, quoted in international reporting on 5 and 6 August, perpetrators pose as staff of supervisory authorities or licensed trading venues and instruct customers of unauthorised providers to move their holdings urgently. Stéphane Pontoizeau, who covers this area at the AMF, is quoted as saying that the current moment offers fraudsters a better opportunity than usual. The same reports note that ESMA has found its own name and logo being misused in letters...