Which Crypto Exchanges Can You Actually Use in the US?

Verified against primary sources: August 2, 2026 · How we verify.

The phrase "available in the US" hides a lot of fine print. There are whole-state exclusions, products that disappear depending on where you live, and separate legal entities running separate rulebooks under one brand. This page consolidates what each exchange's own terms and licensing pages say, state by state, with the date we checked.

Quick verdict

• In New York: your realistic options are Coinbase and Gemini. Kraken excludes NY entirely, OKX's US entity does not serve it, and Crypto.com's app has historically been limited there.

• In Texas: every exchange here serves you except OKX. The one quirk: Kraken customers in Texas cannot hold or trade EUR pairs.

• Almost everywhere else: all five exchange brands are options, subject to the product-level exceptions in each card below.

At a glance

Coinbase

• Serves the US: all 50 states for core buying, selling, and trading.

• Excluded states: none for the core platform.

• Product limits: staking has carried state-level restrictions on new positions in a handful of states (historically CA, MD, NJ, WI); Washington residents can't join referrals via text message — links work fine.

• Worth knowing: the broadest state coverage of any major exchange, which is why it's the default answer for restricted-state residents.

• Verified: 2026-08-02.

Gemini

• Serves the US: all 50 states.

• Excluded states: none — Gemini publishes no US state carve-outs anywhere in its program terms.

• Product limits: none published at the state level.

• Worth knowing: the cleanest availability picture in US crypto — a NY-headquartered, NYDFS-regulated exchange, which is precisely why New York works.

• Verified: 2026-08-02.

Kraken

• Serves the US: 48 states.

• Excluded states: Maine and New York — Kraken (including its securities and adviser arms) doesn't offer services to residents of either.

• Product limits: Indiana accounts can't make crypto transfers; Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Utah can't make fiat transfers; Kraken customers in Texas (and New Hampshire) cannot hold or trade EUR pairs; US customers can only deposit USD among fiat currencies.

• Worth knowing: the transfer restrictions above don't block trading — they limit moving assets in specific ways. Read your state's line before funding.

• Verified: 2026-08-02.

Crypto.com

• Serves the US: the consumer app in 49 states plus territories; the Crypto.com Exchange launched for US advanced and institutional traders in January 2025 — two products, two rulebooks.

• Excluded states: the app has historically been limited in New York.

• Product limits: specific features and assets vary by state; the Exchange sets its own eligibility for advanced users.

• Worth knowing: US app users sit in Crypto.com's top-value tier for sign-up offers — details on the bonuses page.

• Verified: 2026-08-02.

OKX (US)

• Serves the US: 48 states, through a dedicated US entity — OKX INC., a registered money services business (NMLS #1767779).

• Excluded states: New York and Texas, plus American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands.

• Product limits: certain cryptocurrencies, services, and products aren't available to US users and can vary by state; US customers are expressly barred from OKX's non-US products.

• Worth knowing: the only major exchange here that excludes Texas — and the US arm is a genuinely separate platform from global OKX, not the same site with a filter.

• Verified: 2026-08-02.

Why exchanges block states

None of this is arbitrary. US crypto exchanges are regulated state by state, through money-transmitter licenses in most states and New York's famously demanding BitLicense on top. Every state an exchange serves represents a license acquired and maintained, which is why coverage maps look like Swiss cheese. New York is expensive enough that several major platforms simply skip it. Gemini and Coinbase hold the license, while Kraken exited the state years ago.

Product-level rules work the same way, because which coins, which features, and which transfer types are permitted gets decided state by state too. So when an exchange excludes your state, you are looking at a licensing decision rather than a technical one. Working around it with a VPN violates the terms you agreed to at signup, and the practical consequence tends to arrive at the worst possible moment, when a platform freezes an account at withdrawal time.

What about decentralized exchanges (DEXs)?

Decentralized exchanges are a different story entirely. Most offshore perp DEXs restrict US users on paper while enforcing that restriction unevenly — the full breakdown gets its own page: can US traders use perp DEXs?

In flux

Binance.US's status has been changing through 2025 and 2026, and we are re-verifying it against primary sources. It is deliberately absent from the table above until that work is done. This page updates when verified facts change, as described in our methods.

Every claim is verified against each platform's own licensing pages and program terms on the dates shown. Platforms change availability without notice; confirm at signup. Disclosure.