Is This Crypto Platform Registered? How to Check

To check whether a crypto platform is registered, search the regulator's own database for the exact legal entity, not the brand: FinCEN's MSB Registrant Search and NMLS Consumer Access in the US, the FCA Financial Services Register and Warning List in the UK, FINTRAC's MSB registry plus the CSA's platform lists in Canada, and ESMA's MiCA register in the EU. A match proves only what that register covers, and several registrations are not licences at all.

That last point is easy to miss, and fraudsters rely on it. FinCEN warns on its own search page that "fraudsters are using FinCEN's MSB registration process to defraud the public" by telling people a listed business is safe. FinCEN says plainly that it "does not approve or endorse any business that has registered as an MSB," and FINTRAC says registration "does not indicate that FINTRAC endorses or licenses the business." So the useful skill is not just finding a record. It is knowing what that particular record is capable of proving.

Below, each database gets its own lookup steps, with the fields it displays and what its entries do and do not tell you. Every regulator statement quoted was read on October 22, 2026, on the regulator's site or, where noted, an archived copy.

Registration, Licence, Authorisation: What Each Record Actually Commits a Regulator To

Regulators use three words that sound interchangeable and are not. A registration often means a business filed a form and met a legal requirement to be known to an anti-money-laundering supervisor. A licence (in US states) or authorisation (in the UK and EU) usually means a regulator assessed the firm against standards before letting it operate, and keeps supervising it. A list entry such as a warning, a ban or a non-compliance notice is the regulator telling you about a firm it has concerns about.

Read the table's "does not show" column before you rely on any match.

Scammers lean hardest on the FinCEN and FINTRAC rows. Both are anti-money-laundering filings: they show a business is on a government list with reporting duties, not that anyone checked its finances or custody. The FCA's crypto registration is in the same family; the FCA calls its role under that regime "limited to AML/CTF registration, supervision and enforcement only."

Before You Search: Pin Down the Exact Legal Entity

Every register is searched by the name the firm used on its filing, which is often not the name on the app. Finding nothing under a brand name proves little; finding a similarly named company proves even less, because the record may belong to someone else.

Gather these four items before you open any database:

The FCA warns that clone firms "often use the name and address of a genuine firm, or they may copy the firm reference number." The defence is to stop trusting any contact details the platform gave you and use only the details printed on the regulator's record.

United States: Three Lookups

There is no single US register to check. FinCEN holds the federal anti-money-laundering registration, state agencies issue licences such as money transmitter licences, and New York runs its own virtual currency regime. Securities and derivatives regulators can also be involved depending on what is traded; our explainer on which US agency oversees which crypto activity covers that split.

Step 1: FinCEN MSB Registrant Search

Go to msb.fincen.gov. You can search by registration number or BSA ID, legal name, "doing business as" name, address, state, ZIP code, MSB activity and states of operation. Criteria "must be entered exactly as submitted" on the registration form, so if a name search fails, FinCEN suggests retrying with the state or ZIP code field.

A result shows the legal name, DBA name, address, MSB activities, states of activity, number of branches, and the dates the form was signed and received. Activity options include "Money transmitter," "Dealer in foreign exchange" and "Other." On our check date the page reported 29,262 registered MSBs, last updated October 19, 2026.

How to read the result:

Step 2: NMLS Consumer Access for State Licences

State licences are operating permissions, unlike the FinCEN filing. NMLS Consumer Access, at nmlsconsumeraccess.org, is described by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors as "a free service for consumers to confirm that the financial-services company or professional with whom they wish to conduct business is authorized to conduct business in their state." It covers mortgage, consumer finance, debt and money services companies licensed by participating state agencies.

The site's search tips: use the full NMLS ID or state licence number when you have it; results must match every term entered; word searches only match whole words, so "Nation" will not find "National"; and you can filter by company and by regulator.

Then open the company record and look for a licence from your own state's regulator. The site lists its limits: not every state agency puts every licence type on NMLS, unapproved applications are not shown, and much of the information is self-reported. If your state is missing, check the NMLS participant list and your state regulator's own website before concluding anything. (The live site blocked our automated requests, so these details come from its home page as archived on January 1, 2026, and the CSBS description.)

Step 3: New York's Regulated Entities Table

Under 23 NYCRR Part 200, issued in June 2015, a business engaging in "Virtual Currency Business Activity" involving New York or New Yorkers needs a BitLicense or a New York Banking Law charter, such as a limited purpose trust company, approved for virtual currency business. Covered activities include transmitting, holding custody of, buying and selling, exchanging, and issuing virtual currency.

The DFS virtual currency page carries a "Regulated Entities" table with three columns: entity, licensure, and date granted. On our check date it listed 39 entities across three licensure types: virtual currency licence, virtual currency plus money transmitter licences, and limited purpose trust charter. DFS also notes that a BitLicense applicant must separately apply for a money transmission licence, while a limited purpose trust company can transmit money without one.

DFS manages BitLicenses through NMLS, so Step 2 should agree with the DFS table.

United Kingdom: The Register, the Warning List, and Their Limits

Step 4: The FCA Financial Services Register

The Financial Services Register, at register.fca.org.uk, is the FCA's public record of firms it has authorised or registered. For crypto, the type of entry is the key fact: crypto exchanges, crypto ATM operators and custodian wallet providers are, in the FCA's words, "registered with us for anti-money laundering purposes" under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, not authorised in the way a bank or investment firm is.

The FCA's guidance for firms is direct: "Registration under the MLRs is a legal requirement to carry on business. It is not a recommendation or endorsement of your business." Being registered "does not mean your customers benefit from the protections of the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme."

Use the full register rather than the FCA's newer consumer Firm Checker for crypto. The FCA lists "published restrictions relating to crypto activities" among the information the Firm Checker leaves out and points users to the Financial Services Register for it.

On the record itself, check three things:

The registration hurdle is real. As at October 1, 2026, the FCA had received 427 crypto registration applications since it became the supervisor on January 10, 2020. Of the 393 it had determined, 68 were registered (17%), 265 were withdrawn (67%), 46 were rejected (12%) and 14 were refused (4%). It is still an anti-money-laundering regime, not a consumer protection one. That changes under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026, made on February 4, 2026: the FCA expects the new regime to start on October 25, 2027, after which firms in its scope will need full FSMA authorisation.

Step 5: The FCA Warning List

The Warning List covers firms the FCA is "concerned are working without our permission." Search it by name, website and phone number variants, because the FCA notes that unauthorised firms "often change their names." Two reading rules:

For overseas platforms, the FCA points to the IOSCO portal of warnings from overseas regulators. Note too that an exchange abroad with no UK office that merely accepts UK customers is not automatically treated as carrying on business in the UK, although the UK financial promotions regime applies to anyone marketing crypto to UK consumers.

Canada: Two Regulators, Two Different Questions

Canada splits the question cleanly. FINTRAC answers "is this business registered for anti-money-laundering purposes?" Provincial and territorial securities regulators, coordinated through the CSA, answer "is this platform allowed to offer crypto trading to Canadians?" A platform needs to clear both, and a FINTRAC entry alone does not answer the second question.

Step 6: FINTRAC's Money Services Business Registry

Money services businesses operating in Canada, and foreign ones that direct and provide services to people in Canada, must register with FINTRAC before they begin. Dealing in virtual currency is one of the listed MSB services. FINTRAC is explicit about what that registration means: it "does not indicate that FINTRAC endorses or licenses the business. It indicates only that the business has satisfied the legal requirements to register." FINTRAC adds that it does not issue licences or certificates of registration at all, so a "FINTRAC certificate" shown to you as proof is not a FINTRAC document.

The registry is searchable on every field and downloadable. Records include legal and operating names, address, website, services, status, registration number, approval, expiry, cessation and revocation dates, incorporation details and a foreign-MSB flag. FINTRAC asks users to verify "the name, number and status."

The status field has four values:

We tallied the registry download on October 22, 2026, to see how often a crypto-related entry is still live. Of 8,811 entries, 4,184 listed "Virtual Currency" among their services. Their statuses split as follows.

Nearly two in five crypto-related records are no longer active, so a quoted FINTRAC number can be real and still out of date. Read the status column on the day you check. Of the 2,568 registered virtual-currency entries, 189 were flagged as foreign money services businesses, meaning they have no place of business in Canada.

FINTRAC also says it cannot assess business practices or help when a business "withholds client funds or otherwise limits access to these funds, or blocks an account."

Step 7: The CSA's Platform Lists and National Registration Search

The CSA states that crypto platforms, "which sometimes call themselves 'crypto exchanges,'" must register with provincial or territorial securities regulators, and that "platforms located outside of Canada that provide services to Canadians must also be registered in Canada." Registration conditions include managing risks such as cybersecurity and "an obligation to deliver crypto assets or cash, upon a client's request."

The CSA keeps several public lists on its crypto platforms page:

For individuals and investment firms, the CSA's "Are They Registered?" page points to the National Registration Search, plus the CSA Disciplined List and Cease Trade Orders database on SEDAR+. A registration category "tells you what products and services they can offer," so check the category, not just the record.

European Union: A Short Note on ESMA's MiCA Register

Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers need authorisation from a national competent authority, and ESMA publishes a central register compiled from those authorities. On our check date it was still an interim register of five CSV files, last updated October 22, 2026, although ESMA had planned to move it into its IT systems around mid-2026. The CASP file lists the authority, legal name and LEI, website, authorisation and withdrawal dates, services, and the member states each provider passports into.

Two figures from our download that day: the CASP file had 387 rows covering 384 distinct legal entity identifiers, two of them showing a withdrawal date. The separate non-compliant entities file had 178 entries, 169 of them reported by Italy's authority, which means absence from that file says very little about a firm in most member states. ESMA republishes weekly, so a national authority's newest decision may not appear yet, and withdrawn authorisations stay in the file, so read the withdrawal-date column. Under MiCA's transitional rules, member states could allow firms already operating under national law to continue until July 1, 2026 at the latest, so a firm still pointing to an old national registration deserves a closer look.

Our MiCA guide for crypto users walks through reading the ESMA register field by field, including passporting and white papers.

Worked Example: Checking a Hypothetical Platform's Claims

The following example is hypothetical. The platform, its claims and the register results are invented to show the method; no real firm is described.

Inputs. A Canadian resident is invited by an online contact to deposit on "Harbourline Exchange." The site footer says: "Operated by Harbourline Global Ltd. FinCEN registered MSB. FCA registered. Registered with FINTRAC, registration M00000000." The platform's domain is harbourline-trade.example.

Lookups and results:

Reading it. The only "positive" result, the FinCEN listing, proves least and is not even in the reader's country. Every check of permission to serve this customer failed or contradicted the site. Real cases are often messier, which is what the next table is for.

How to Read Mixed Results

If any of these lookups turns up a warning after you have already sent money, our step-by-step guide on where to report a crypto scam and what evidence to include covers the agencies in each country.

Mistakes That Make a Register Check Worthless

What a Clean Register Result Still Leaves Open

A full set of matching records answers one narrow question: is this entity permitted to do this activity for customers where you live? It does not tell you whether the platform holds enough assets to cover what customers deposited, whether your coins sit in segregated custody, or what happens if it fails. Those are separate checks. Our exchange reserve risk checklist covers proof-of-reserves and liabilities, and our explainer on what happens to customer crypto when an exchange goes bankrupt covers custody terms and insolvency outcomes.

Register checks also do nothing against manipulation. A real, registered exchange can be the on-ramp in a scam where a stranger talks you into buying crypto and sending it on to an address they control. The tells there are behavioural: unsolicited contact, guaranteed returns, pressure, fees to withdraw. Our crypto scam red flags checklist lists them, and more fraud guides sit in our scams and fraud hub.

If the platform you are checking was recommended by someone you met online, read our stage-by-stage map of pig-butchering scams before depositing anything: it shows where the fake trading dashboard enters the script, which is exactly the moment a register lookup is worth doing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does FinCEN registration mean a crypto exchange is licensed?

No. FinCEN's MSB registration is an anti-money-laundering filing, and FinCEN states that it "does not license or vet the information provided by registrants." Inclusion in its search is "not a recommendation, certification of legitimacy, or endorsement." Operating licences for money transmission in the US come from state regulators, which you check through NMLS Consumer Access and your state regulator's site.

Is a crypto firm on the FCA register protected by the FSCS?

Usually not. Crypto exchanges and custodian wallet providers appear on the register because they are registered for anti-money-laundering purposes, and the FCA says that registration does not mean customers benefit from the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The FCA's consumer guidance also describes crypto as largely unregulated in the UK and says FSCS cover for crypto losses is highly unlikely.

How do I know if a crypto platform is allowed to operate in Canada?

Check two places. FINTRAC's MSB registry shows whether the business is registered for anti-money-laundering purposes and whether that registration is still active. The CSA's list of crypto platforms authorized to do business with Canadians shows whether securities regulators have registered it to offer crypto trading, and whether that is limited to certain provinces.

What does it mean if a platform is not on the FCA Warning List?

Very little on its own. The FCA says that if a firm is not on the list, it "may still be unauthorised or be a scam," because unauthorised firms change names and the FCA may not know about them yet. Absence from the Warning List should be paired with a positive match on the Financial Services Register, with contact details that agree with what the platform gave you.

Can a scam platform show a real registration number?

Yes. Clone firms copy a genuine firm's name, address or reference number, according to the FCA, and a number can also belong to a registration that has expired or been revoked. That is why you should match the legal name, number, status and website domain together, and contact the firm only through details printed on the regulator's record.

Where do I check whether an EU crypto provider is authorised under MiCA?

ESMA publishes an interim MiCA register as downloadable files, including one for authorised crypto-asset service providers and one for non-compliant entities. The provider file shows the authorising national regulator, the services covered, and the member states the firm passports into. Because ESMA republishes weekly, the authorising national regulator's own register may show a newer decision.

Sources

CryptosEyes publishes general educational research, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Register contents change, and a matching record is not a statement by us or by any regulator that a platform is safe; confirm current details on each regulator's own site, and ask a qualified professional if you need advice on whether a specific firm may serve you.