Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is an electronic broker listed on Nasdaq that gives private investors, hedge funds, asset managers and introducing brokers access to more than 175 markets from one account. Clients trade shares, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds on platforms such as Trader Workstation, IBKR Desktop and IBKR Mobile. European clients hold their accounts with Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited in Dublin.
Since 31 March 2026, eligible private investors in the European Economic Area can also trade crypto assets in the same account. Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited is registered as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA for the reception and transmission of orders. The exchange and the custody of the coins sit with a Dutch provider that holds a MiCA authorization of its own.
Authorization by the Central Bank of Ireland
The interim MiCA register of ESMA lists Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited with an authorization of 22 January 2026 from the Central Bank of Ireland. It covers one service, the reception and transmission of orders for crypto assets on behalf of clients. The register names 30 countries of the European Economic Area, Ireland included, and the whitelist of the French AMF shows the same authorization with a passport for France.
With a CASP license for this one service, Interactive Brokers passes crypto orders on to a regulated exchange and does not trade or hold the coins itself. The broker therefore needs no exchange or custody authorization of its own for its crypto offer in the EEA.
zerohash as exchange and custodian
All crypto trades of Interactive Brokers clients in the EEA take place on the exchange of zerohash europe B.V., which the Dutch AFM authorizes as a crypto-asset service provider. The coins are held by zerohash in an account in the name of each client, and Interactive Brokers states that it has no control over these holdings.
The Irish investor compensation scheme does not protect crypto assets or cash held with zerohash. Clients therefore rely on the segregation rules for crypto custody under MiCA, which keep client coins apart from the assets of the custodian.
One account for crypto and securities
Interactive Brokers launched crypto trading for the EEA with 11 coins and lets clients use the same login, cash balance and risk tools for coins and for shares. Chief executive Milan Galik said that clients want to diversify into crypto assets while keeping the tools and prices they already use at Interactive Brokers.
Crypto trading runs 24 hours a day and seven days a week on Trader Workstation, IBKR Desktop, Client Portal, IBKR Mobile and IBKR GlobalTrader. Clients pay for coins from the US dollar balance of their account, and limit orders let them set the highest or lowest price they accept.
Upcoming blockchain and digital asset events in Germany
Trading permission for crypto
Before the first crypto trade, clients request the crypto trading permission in Client Portal under the settings of their user profile. Interactive Brokers usually approves the request overnight, and only individual investors who meet the eligibility rules for the EEA receive it. The permission applies to the spot coins traded through zerohash, while crypto ETPs and futures need their own product permissions.
Commissions and minimum order
Interactive Brokers charges a commission of 0.12 to 0.18 percent of the trade value on crypto, depending on the monthly volume of the client. Each order costs at least 1.75 US dollars, but this minimum never exceeds one percent of the trade value. The broker adds no spread, no markup and no custody fee to the price of the coins.
Which coins can be traded
The list of coins grew from 11 at the launch to 17, which are bitcoin, ether, Solana, bitcoin cash, Avalanche, litecoin, Chainlink, Cardano, Sui, XRP, Dogecoin, Canton, Aptos, NEAR, Aave, Uniswap and Lido DAO. Interactive Brokers notes that it may not offer every coin that zerohash supports. New coins appear in the crypto list on the website before clients can trade them.
Bitcoin, ETPs and futures
Clients who ask whether they can buy bitcoin on Interactive Brokers have three routes in one account: the coin itself through zerohash, a listed crypto ETP from zero commission and bitcoin futures and options on regulated futures exchanges. Spot bitcoin stays with the custodian, an ETP sits in the securities account like a bond, and a future settles in cash without delivery of the coin.
Interactive Brokers Ireland and MiCA
Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited is the company that holds the MiCA authorization and the client accounts for the European Economic Area. Its registration covers only the reception and transmission of orders, so the duties of an exchange and a custodian under the MiCA regulation fall on zerohash. Clients outside the EEA trade crypto through other companies of the group under their local rules.
Interactive Brokers and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers brokers that add crypto assets to securities accounts in the Investment & Digital Assets track and their MiCA status in Risk & Compliance. The model of Interactive Brokers, which routes orders to a licensed exchange and custodian, is one of the setups that banks and asset managers in the Finance Loop network compare when they plan their own crypto offer.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.