Gate has secured a Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) license from Malta's Financial Services Authority (MFSA), enabling the exchange to offer stablecoin payment services across all 27 EU member states. The license lands on February 26, 2026, exactly four days before the European Banking Authority's March 2 enforcement deadline that will require any crypto-asset service provider handling electronic money token (EMT) transfers to hold a separate payment institution authorization.
Gate already held a MiCA license from the MFSA, granted to its subsidiary Gate Technology Ltd in October 2025. That license covered exchange and custody services. The PSD2 license adds the missing piece: the legal authority to process stablecoin payments, transfers, and related services that MiCA alone does not cover.
The March 2 Deadline Nobody Can Afford to Miss
The urgency behind Gate's timing traces back to an EBA opinion published in mid-2025 that exposed a regulatory gap between MiCA and PSD2. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) are authorized to custody and transfer crypto assets. But the EBA determined that when those crypto assets are electronic money tokens, specifically stablecoins like USDC and USDT that function as digital cash, the transfer constitutes a payment service under PSD2.
The EBA gave the industry a grace period. National competent authorities were advised not to enforce the dual-licensing requirement until March 2, 2026. That grace period expires on Saturday.
After March 2, any exchange that custodies or transfers EMTs on behalf of EU clients without a PSD2 authorization is operating outside the law. The EBA's guidance is clear: national regulators should "require an authorisation under PSD2 only from 2 March 2026 onwards" and apply streamlined procedures that reuse MiCA application documentation. But "streamlined" still means licensed. Exchanges that have not applied are already too late for the deadline.
Who Made It and Who Did Not
Gate is not the first exchange to clear this hurdle. OKX secured its own Malta Payment Institution license on February 16, making it one of the earliest major exchanges to address the PSD2 gap. OKX explicitly tied the license to its OKX Card and OKX Pay products, framing stablecoin payments as a consumer-facing feature rather than a back-end compliance checkbox.
Bitpanda, Crypto.com, and Bitvavo had already obtained payment-related authorizations through various EU jurisdictions before the MiCA-PSD2 overlap became a regulatory flashpoint.
On the other side of the ledger, the consequences of falling behind are already visible. Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA) banned KuCoin EU from onboarding new customers in February after compliance failures surfaced just three months into its MiCA license. While KuCoin's issues were AML-related rather than PSD2-specific, the enforcement action demonstrated that EU regulators are done issuing warnings. They are pulling licenses and blocking operations.
The exchanges most exposed after March 2 are those that secured MiCA authorizations but assumed that covered payment services. It does not. The EBA's opinion made the boundary explicit: MiCA handles crypto exchange and custody, PSD2 handles payment execution. Stablecoins sit at the intersection, and regulators decided that intersection belongs to payment law.
Why Malta Became the Gateway
Malta's MFSA has emerged as the default licensing hub for exchanges targeting the EU. The concentration is striking. Gate, OKX, Gemini, Binance, Bybit, and Crypto.com all hold or have applied for MFSA-issued authorizations.
The appeal is structural. Malta was the first EU member state to create a dedicated legal framework for digital assets back in 2018 with the Virtual Financial Assets Act. When MiCA replaced national frameworks in 2024, Malta's regulator already had institutional knowledge of crypto firms that other authorities lacked. The MFSA processed applications faster and understood the business models better than regulators in Germany, France, or the Netherlands that were encountering crypto-native firms for the first time.
That concentration has drawn scrutiny. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) reviewed Malta's MiCA licensing practices in late 2025, raising questions about whether the speed of approvals came at the cost of rigor. The MFSA responded that no licenses were at risk, but the review signals that the EU's home-host passporting system depends on mutual trust between regulators, and that trust is not unlimited.
For Gate, the dual MiCA-plus-PSD2 authorization from a single jurisdiction simplifies compliance. One regulator, one supervisory relationship, one set of reporting obligations that passport across 27 countries.
What This Means for EU Stablecoin Users
The PSD2 license does not change what Gate users can trade. It changes what Gate can build. Under PSD2 authorization, Gate can legally offer:
- Direct stablecoin-to-fiat payment initiation
- Stablecoin transfers between accounts on behalf of clients
- Integration with merchant payment rails
- Potential card programs linked to stablecoin balances
OKX has already moved on this. Its EU crypto card launched in late January, and the company explicitly cited its Malta PI license as the legal foundation for stablecoin payment products. Gate now has the same legal runway.
The practical impact for users in the EU and EEA is that compliant exchanges will be able to offer stablecoin spending products, card programs, and payment features that non-licensed competitors cannot. The March 2 deadline creates a two-tier market: exchanges with PSD2 authorization that can build payment products, and exchanges without it that are limited to trading and custody.
The Dual-Licensing Trap Is Not Solved
Gate's license is a tactical win, but the underlying problem remains. The EBA acknowledged in its opinion that requiring two authorizations for the same activity is "not ideal" and proposed two long-term fixes: either amend MiCA to incorporate PSD2 payment provisions directly, or amend PSD2 to create a crypto-specific carve-out.
Neither fix has materialized. The EU legislative calendar is crowded with the digital euro rollout, PSD3 negotiations, and MiCA review cycles. Circle has publicly warned that the dual-licensing overlap could fragment the market, making stablecoin services too expensive for smaller providers and concentrating the market among well-capitalized exchanges that can absorb the compliance cost.
That concentration is already happening. The exchanges securing PSD2 licenses are the same ones that dominated the MiCA licensing race: large, globally diversified platforms with dedicated legal teams and existing relationships with EU regulators. Mid-tier exchanges and DeFi protocols that lack the resources for a second licensing process face a choice between exiting EU stablecoin payments or finding a licensed partner to white-label through.
FAQ
What is a PSD2 license and why do crypto exchanges need one? PSD2 is the EU's payment services regulation. It governs how companies can process payments, transfer funds, and initiate transactions on behalf of clients. The EBA determined that when crypto exchanges transfer stablecoins classified as electronic money tokens, that activity falls under PSD2, meaning exchanges need a separate payment license on top of their MiCA crypto authorization.
What happens to exchanges without a PSD2 license after March 2? National regulators can enforce compliance starting March 2, 2026. Exchanges operating stablecoin transfer services in the EU without PSD2 authorization risk enforcement actions ranging from fines to operational restrictions. The EBA has advised regulators to use streamlined application processes, but firms that have not applied are unlikely to receive authorization by the deadline.
Does Gate's PSD2 license affect users outside the EU? No. The PSD2 license applies only to services offered to clients within the European Economic Area. Gate's operations in other jurisdictions remain governed by their respective local regulations.
How does this compare to what OKX did? OKX obtained the same type of Malta Payment Institution license on February 16, 2026, ten days before Gate. Both licenses serve the same purpose: legal authorization to process stablecoin payments across the EU under PSD2.
Overview
Gate secured a PSD2 payment institution license from Malta's MFSA on February 26, 2026, four days before the EBA's March 2 enforcement deadline that requires any exchange handling stablecoin transfers for EU clients to hold a payment services authorization. The license complements Gate's existing MiCA authorization and enables EU-wide stablecoin payment services, card programs, and merchant integrations. Gate joins OKX, Bitpanda, and Crypto.com among exchanges that have cleared the PSD2 hurdle, while those without authorization face a two-tier market where only licensed platforms can build stablecoin spending products for European users.
Recommended Reading
- Austria Bans KuCoin EU From Onboarding New Customers After AML Officers Vanish Three Months Into Its MiCA License
- The OCC Just Fired the Starting Gun on GENIUS Act Rulemaking, and National Banks Now Have a Path to Issue Stablecoins
- Senate Democrats Meet on Stablecoin Yield Three Days Before the March 1 Deadline That Could Kill the CLARITY Act
