KuCoin has genuinely strong PEPE liquidity — about $5.75M in 24-hour volume, the second deepest we measured — at a flat 0.10% fee, with a beginner-friendly interface and 700+ coins.
But it has a serious limitation: its European arm cannot currently onboard new EU customers, and it offers no fiat pairs for PEPE at all — stablecoins only.
Affiliate disclosure: exchange links on this page are referral links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes the facts above. How we make money.
| Property | KuCoin |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| Spot fees (maker / taker) | 0.10% / 0.10% |
| PEPE pairs (API-verified) | USDT, USDC (no fiat) |
| 24h PEPE spot volume | $5.75M |
| EU (MiCA licence) | Austria, but onboarding paused |
| United Kingdom | Not verified |
| Australia | Not verified |
| Canada | Not verified |
| United States | No |
Fees from the exchange’s published base-tier schedule. Pairs and volume read from its public API on 7 September 2026. Regulatory status checked against public registers; “not verified” means we could not confirm an authorisation, not that none exists.
KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH received a MiCA licence from Austria’s financial regulator in late November 2025, which
should have made it fully available across Europe. In early 2026 the regulator barred it from onboarding new
customers after key compliance roles fell vacant. So it holds a licence it cannot currently use for new EU
business.
If you are an EU resident without an existing account, this makes KuCoin a non-starter regardless of its other merits
— use one of the licensed alternatives in our MiCA guide.
KuCoin lists PEPE against USDT and USDC only. Every other exchange in our top tier offers at least one
fiat pair. In practice that means you cannot go from a bank account to PEPE in one step: you buy or deposit a stablecoin
first, then trade. That extra hop costs a spread and, if you are converting from a currency other than the dollar, another
one on top.
Two things stand out. Liquidity is excellent — $5.75M of PEPE volume, second only to OKX and ahead
of Gate.io, Bybit and Kraken. And the interface is genuinely one of the more approachable ones, with recurring-buy tools
and low entry minimums that suit someone making their first meme-coin purchase. At a flat 0.10% it is priced competitively
too.
If you already hold an account and stablecoins, and you are outside the EU, KuCoin is a perfectly sensible place to trade
PEPE. The problems are about access, not quality.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
|
|
New EU customers cannot open an account — use OKX, Bybit or Kraken. Anyone starting from a bank
account should prefer an exchange with a fiat pair: OKX for USD or EUR, Kraken for GBP, AUD or CAD.
KuCoin makes sense mainly for existing account holders outside Europe who already hold stablecoins.
Not as new customers. KuCoin’s European entity holds an Austrian MiCA licence granted in late November 2025, but the regulator barred it from onboarding new customers in early 2026 after compliance roles fell vacant. Existing customers may still have access; new EU buyers should use OKX, Bybit or Kraken.
No. Checked against its API on 7 September 2026, KuCoin lists PEPE only against USDT and USDC. You cannot buy PEPE directly from a bank account there – you would deposit or buy a stablecoin first, paying a spread on that step.
Yes, genuinely. It carried about $5.75M of 24-hour PEPE spot volume when we measured, second only to OKX and ahead of Gate.io, Bybit and Kraken. Its problems are regulatory access and the absence of fiat pairs, not market quality.
A flat 0.10% for both maker and taker at the base tier, so about $1.00 on a $1,000 order – competitive, and the same as Bybit. Volume tiers reduce it further.