Erald Ghoos

The reports coming out of Poland in recent weeks are not a crypto story. This is a consumer protection story.Hundreds of thousands of users cannot get their money out. A Bitcoin wallet worth approximately $330 million [~1.19 Billion / ~€280 million], which the exchange's own CEO pointed to on camera last week as proof of solvency, sits untouched because nobody at the company holds the private key; and the founder who does has been missing since March 2022. Poland's Prime Minister has told parliament that the exchange funded politicians who voted against crypto regulation, and alleged ties to Russia. Criminal investigators are involved. Poland's consumer protection authority, UOKiK, has been receiving and processing complaints from affected users and has an open investigation against the exchange.

The EU's 18-month transitional period under MiCA expires on 1 July 2026. ESMA confirmed that there will be no extensions. European crypto users have less than two months to make sure they are using a MiCA regulated exchange.

By Erald Ghoos, CEO OKX Europe Many European customers are sitting on idle assets, particularly stablecoins, with fewer options to put them to work. Several platforms have scaled back or removed reward products entirely in order to adapt to the new regulatory environment. What I’ve consistently heard from our customers is simple: they want flexible ways to use their crypto, without relying on opaque structures or rigid lock-up terms.

Written by Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe Over the past year, OKX has been steadily expanding across Europe — we're listening to what traders want and building the products they need. From advanced trading tools to deeper liquidity and new institutional partnerships, Europe has quickly become one of the most important regions driving OKX’s global growth.