The licences, verified
Most exchanges put regulator logos on a page. Very few give you a number to look up. CEX.IO does, and we checked what it publishes.
- United States, federal. CEX.IO Corp. is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business. The registration is verifiable on NMLS Consumer Access under ID 1804170. MSB status dates back to 2015.
- United States, state level. Money transmitter licences across 34+ states, each published with its licence number — Texas 3223, New York-adjacent states, Washington 550-MT-117925, Florida FT230000264 and so on. Note that some states, Louisiana among them, explicitly carve virtual currency out of the licence's scope, and CEX.IO discloses that too.
- Gibraltar. CEX.IO Limited, registered No. 116846, authorised and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission as a DLT Provider under authorisation number FSC0686FSA.
- Cyprus. A CySEC-authorised Cyprus Investment Firm, which brings the group inside an EU investment-services framework.
- Lithuania. A registered Virtual Asset Service Provider, with a dedicated money-laundering reporting officer hired for the jurisdiction.
The welcome bonus, line by line
This is the promotion linked from the hero section of every page on this site, so we owe you the full terms rather than the headline.
| First spot trade | Fee credit |
|---|---|
| Under $500 | 10 USDC |
| Over $500 | 50 USDC |
| Over $5,000 | 200 USDC |
| Over $50,000 | 1,000 USDC |
The conditions that decide what it is worth to you
- Non-withdrawable. It reduces trading fees. It never becomes cash in your balance.
- Spot fees only. It cannot be used as trading capital.
- 14 days. The credit expires 14 days after it is credited.
- First spot trade only, and full identity verification is required.
- Opt-in required — you click to claim, then trade, then claim via the app notification centre.
- Country exclusions including Belgium, Spain, the UK, China, the UAE and others.
- Partial coverage. If the credit does not cover a trade's full fee, the remainder comes from your own balance.
Read plainly: for most people this is worth the trading fees they would pay in the next fortnight — a few dollars to a few tens of dollars, not a thousand. That is a normal, well-disclosed promotion. It is simply not free money, and anyone presenting it as such is doing you a disservice. Our full read-through is in the CEX.IO welcome bonus explained, and the wider category is in crypto sign-up bonuses.
What a licence actually buys you
Worth being precise, because this is routinely oversold.
What it does not do: guarantee your funds. There is no deposit insurance for crypto balances in any of these regimes. A licensed firm can still fail, and you can still lose money in a licensed venue.
What it does do: give you a named legal entity in a known jurisdiction, a supervisor with a complaints mechanism, mandatory anti-money-laundering and governance obligations, and a public register you can check independently. Compared with an anonymous storefront, that is a substantially different risk position — and it is the difference between having recourse and having a grievance.
For the European picture specifically, the Europe page covers MiCA, whose transitional period ended on 1 July 2026 and whose authorised-provider register at ESMA listed 325 entries in mid-August 2026.
Pros and cons
What works well
- Unusually complete licensing disclosure — a public list of every state licence with numbers you can verify yourself
- FinCEN-registered money services business, checkable on NMLS Consumer Access under ID 1804170
- Money transmitter licences across 34+ US states
- Gibraltar FSC DLT Provider licence FSC0686FSA for European operations
- CySEC-authorised investment firm in Cyprus, plus a registered VASP in Lithuania
- Operating since 2013 — one of the longest continuous records in the industry
- Welcome bonus terms are fully disclosed, including the exclusions
What to watch out for
- Full identity verification is mandatory — this is a licensed venue, not a no-KYC service
- The welcome bonus is trading-fee credit, not withdrawable cash, which the headline number does not convey
- The credit expires 14 days after crediting
- A specific list of countries is excluded from the promotion, including Belgium, Spain, the UK, China and the UAE
- Spot trading fees are mid-market rather than the cheapest available
- Not a gift-card platform — it does not sell brand cards or vouchers
Who should use it
CEX.IO makes sense if
- You are buying crypto to gift, and provenance matters.
- You want a venue whose licences you can independently verify.
- You are in the US and want a platform with state-level money transmitter licences.
- You are comfortable with full identity verification — which is the point of a licensed venue.
Look elsewhere if
- You want to avoid KYC. That is a legitimate preference and it is incompatible with a licensed exchange — see no-KYC gift cards.
- You want brand gift cards — this is an exchange. Start at the gift card hub.
- You want the absolute lowest trading fees and licensing is not a priority for you.
- You are in an excluded country for the promotion, or a market where spot trading is unsupported.
CEX.IO: FAQ
Is CEX.IO legit and licensed?
Yes, and unusually verifiably so. CEX.IO Corp. is registered with FinCEN as a money services business and its US registration can be checked on NMLS Consumer Access under ID 1804170. It publishes each state money transmitter licence with its number. CEX.IO Limited operates in Gibraltar under a Financial Services Commission DLT Provider licence (FSC0686FSA), and the group also holds CySEC authorisation in Cyprus and a registered VASP in Lithuania.
What is the CEX.IO welcome bonus, exactly?
Up to 1,000 USDC credited as a Trading Fee Balance, tiered by the size of your first spot trade: 10 USDC under $500, 50 USDC over $500, 200 USDC over $5,000 and 1,000 USDC over $50,000. It is non-withdrawable, usable only against spot trading fees, valid for 14 days after crediting, and requires full verification. Full breakdown in the CEX.IO welcome bonus explained.
Which countries are excluded from the bonus?
Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, China, the UAE, Algeria, Bolivia, Honduras, Mauritius, Morocco, Nepal, Palestine, Qatar, Sri Lanka, DR Congo, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara at the time we checked. Terms change, so read the promotion page before opting in.
Does CEX.IO sell gift cards?
No. It is an exchange, and we review it here because gifting usually begins with buying. If you want brand gift cards, see the gift card hub; if you want a code that becomes coins, see the voucher hub.
Does a licence mean my money is protected?
Not in the way deposit insurance protects a bank account. Crypto registrations mostly impose anti-money-laundering, governance and disclosure obligations. What a licence genuinely buys you is an identifiable legal entity, a supervisor with a complaints process, and a public register you can check — which is materially better than an anonymous storefront, without being a guarantee.
Sources and further reading
Figures on this page were checked in August 2026. Fees, country lists and promotions change without notice — always confirm on the operator's own site before you pay.
- CEX.IO — Licenses and registrations in the US — FinCEN MSB and the full state licence list with numbers
- NMLS Consumer Access — entity 1804170 — verify the US registration yourself
- CEX.IO spot welcome bonus terms — tiers, validity, exclusions
- Gibraltar Financial Services Commission — DLT Provider licensing regime
- Finance Magnates — CEX.IO secures CySEC CIF licence — Cyprus authorisation reporting