06-30-2026 
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The Binance digital asset exchange is just one of many crypto platforms bidding their European customers ‘adieu’ as the European Union’s regulatory grace period comes to an end.
- Binance’s EU plans unravel at the last minute
- MiCA-compliant rivals pitching/poaching Binance’s EU customers
- European regulator tells noncompliant firms to GTFO in an ‘orderly manner’
- European Banking Authority ponders how to calculate stablecoin penalties
July 1 marks the deadline by which digital asset operators must either be in compliance with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory scheme or cease all operations serving continental clients. MiCA, which was approved in December 2024, offered crypto asset service providers (CASPs) an 18-month ‘grace period’ in which to secure a MiCA-compliant license from a National Competent Authority (NCA) in any EU market, thereby allowing them to continue offering services across the European Economic Area (EEA).
The past week saw a flurry of announcements by companies celebrating their new MiCA diplomas, including Ripple Labs (from Luxembourg) and Bitcoin Suisse (from Lichtenstein), NAGA Group (Cyprus), OpenPayd (Malta), and Kanga (Latvia).
The fact that so many operators waited until the grace period’s dying days to officially secure their MiCA permits could speak volumes regarding the hit they expect the new regs will take on their bottom lines. But an even worse fate appears to have befallen Binance, the leading exchange by trading volume, which has been frantically reworking its MiCA narrative over the past month.
On June 16, Reuters reported that Greek regulatory authorities were preparing to reject Binance’s MiCA application. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) declined to confirm the report, while a Binance spokesperson told Reuters that the HCMC “has given no formal indication” that the company’s application had been found wanting.
Binance filed its application in January after establishing a Greek holding company last December. In February, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng told Reuters that Binance chose Greece as “a good base for us to expand in Europe” after considering “many other factors, whether it’s social, whether it’s talent pool, safety and security issues.”
Following the June 16 report, Binance’s official X account tweeted that the company “remains committed to its European users and will continue to operate in compliance with applicable law.” Binance added that its priority is “to minimize disruption” for its EU users, promising to give them “sufficient time and clarity” regarding its plans, and vowing to provide an update before June 30.
Teng tweeted the company’s dedication to “securing our MiCA license” while assuring customers that their assets on the exchange “remain secure, are and will remain accessible at all times. Our intention is to support an orderly process.”
On June 24, Binance issued “an important update” for its EU users, revealing that it had “withdrawn its MiCA application in Greece and will pursue authorization in another EU Member State … when we are ready to announce that Member State, we will do so publicly.”
Binance claimed this decision followed “careful consideration of the status and the timeline of the process in Greece.” Binance claimed to have spent “many months” working “constructively and in good faith with the HCMC,” but felt compelled to move on due to the lack of any “formal decision” as the clock counts down to July 1. Binance insisted that its “commitment to Europe remains unchanged” and promised to update users as the need arose.
That same day, Reuters reported that Binance had held talks with regulators in both Ireland and Latvia but reportedly “faced resistance” due to the company’s highly publicized “penalties for money laundering, its complex international structure and what [regulators] viewed as a risk-taking culture” within Binance.
Reuters quoted Binance’s EU/UK head Gillian Lynch saying the company had contacted ‘four or five’ regulators, but Greece was the only market in which the company had filed an official application. Lynch, who joined Binance a year ago, expressed bewilderment as to why Greece might have rejected Binance’s application but insisted the company “is not leaving Europe. We may just have a different pathway to being authorized. If it is not Greece, I’m looking at other alternatives.”
On June 26, Teng tweeted that Binance remains ‘committed to securing a MiCA license in the coming months.” Binance’s other co-CEO Yi He tweeted that Europe was “a small part of our business, but an important one, and we’re committed to the EU and our customers there.” Yi added that Binance “intend to get this right, and we are working hand in hand with EU and national regulators.”
Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that Binance has now pinned its MiCA regulatory hopes on France. The FT also reported that Binance users in France, Italy, Poland, and Spain (where Binance holds local licenses) have received emails instructing them how to withdraw their assets due to the imminent loss of their EU privileges.
On June 26, Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao tweeted that it’s “sad to see EU cutting their users off from the best liquidity in the world … Hope to see things change in the future.”
On June 29, CZ appeared on The Starting Block, where he was asked about Binance’s EU issues. CZ said his understanding of the situation was that there were “one or two” regulators who told Binance their application(s) was/were “fully compliant” with MiCA. But “there were other forces that were against it.”
Pressed as to whether these forces included European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, CZ hedged, saying that he’d seen online chatter making these claims but had no “verifiable information” on that subject.
Rivals texting ‘U up’ to Binance’s EU customers
On June 26, co-CEO Yi claimed that Binance’s EU woes had “prompted many in the crypto community to pay for negative publicity against Binance,” apparently in a bid to convince Binance’s EU users to transfer their affections.
That could be a shot at MiCA-approved Australian exchange Bitpanda, whose founder Eric Demuth recently tweeted that while other exchanges “optimized for speed, we optimized for trust.”
But it’s more likely aimed at Star Xu, the founder of the OKX exchange (which received its MiCA approval from Malta in January 2025) who’s been taking far more open shots at OKX’s rival. On June 26, Xu tweeted that Binance “appears to have intentionally disregarded MiCA requirements after the end of the transition period” by instructing users in certain EU markets that “no action is required from you at this time.”
Xu’s criticism shows no sign of stopping, tweeting Monday that “Binance continues to serve users in most of EEA countries through offshore entities,” raising “important questions about its approach to regulatory compliance.”
OKX Europe CEO Erald Ghoos tweeted a message to Binance customers offering “8% on new deposits” if they transferred their assets to OKX. This offer also applies to customers of the MiCA-noncompliant Bybit exchange, which warned on June 28 that “certain services … will be progressively limited” for its EEA customers going forward.OKX’s offer is three points better than the 5% offer that Brian Armstrong, CEO of the Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) exchange, made to EU customers of noncompliant exchanges who transferred their assets to Coinbase. However, you need to be a Coinbase One subscriber and reside in either Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, or the United Kingdom to claim this offer.
Meanwhile, digital asset infrastructure provider BitGo, which received its MiCA approval in May 2025 from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), is offering noncompliant operators a crypto-as-a-service solution.
On June 16, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe touted BitGo Europe’s status as a MiCA-licensed option “built to support regulated custody, transfer, staking and trading infrastructure across the EU.” Belshe urged firms (both crypto-native and tradfi) that are “still waiting on approval” to check out BitGo’s options to “keep you moving safely and compliantly.”
While the crypto market has been in a serious slump for some time now, the negative publicity surrounding Binance likely contributed to its outflows over the past seven days, topping $967 million (as of Monday evening). Still, that’s something of a recovery from the nearly $1.5 billion that left the site on June 24, when Binance confirmed the withdrawal of its Greek application.
Meanwhile, OKX enjoyed inflows of nearly the same amount that Binance lost over the same period. That said, the Bitget exchange has also enjoyed healthy inflows despite its own MiCA licensing woes, so who knows?
Despite its rivals’ evident glee in snapping up Binance’s customer castoffs, Binance may yet have the last laugh in a far more significant market. In an interview with CoinDesk last week, CZ offered more hints on the company’s plans to beef up its U.S.-facing exchange, Binance.US.
CZ said “it’s important for us to invest time, money in the U.S,” adding that Binance “want to do more in the U.S. and personally I really want to help make U.S. the capital of crypto. So I want to bring more crypto services into America.” You can’t say you weren’t warned.
EU regulator warns noncompliant ops that ‘grace’ is running out
As of June 26, some 244 CASPs had managed to secure their MiCA diplomas, according to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Germany’s BaFin leads the list of member state approvals with 57, nearly one-quarter of the total. France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) are tied for second with 26 approvals apiece. Malta’s Financial Services Authority (MFSA) followed with 17 approvals.
But that total remains a fraction of the overall market, and it remains to be seen whether all these unauthorized platforms plan to fully disengage from their EU customers. Last week, the chair of Spain’s National Securities Market Commission warned that “there will be no exceptions or extensions” to the EU’s MiCA deadline and that regulators were watching how noncompliant firms behave after June 30.
On June 23, the ESMA issued a statement warning firms that have yet to secure MiCA approval to “take immediate steps to wind down their EU activities in an orderly manner, while also safeguarding clients’ interests and mitigating risks to market integrity.”
That includes a complete halt to onboarding new EU clients and a cessation of “marketing activities and solicitation.” Existing clients of unapproved operators must be restricted to “actions necessary to sell or transfer crypto-assets, reallocate assets, or close positions.” Platforms must also “communicate clearly, promptly and repeatedly” about their wind-down plans “so that clients know the timeline to dispose of, transfer, reallocate or close their positions.”
The ESMA further warned platforms that they must abide by all relevant rules regarding their anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism obligations. And those MiCA-licensed CASPs looking to scoop up noncompliant platforms’ customers need to observe “all necessary onboarding procedures,” including due diligence and AML/CFT checks.
CASPs based outside the EU are warned against trying to provide MiCA services to EU residents or solicit EU clients, including in a B2B context. MiCA-approved CASPs were also put on notice that they can’t outsource or delegate “certain services, notably custody,” to unauthorized firms.
EBA wants feedback on how to calculate MiCA stablecoin penalties
MiCA also covers how stablecoin issuers can conduct operations within EU member states, and on June 26, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a consultation paper detailing their proposals on how to punish issuers of significant asset-referenced tokens (s-ART) and significant e-money tokens (s-EMT).
ARTs are stablecoins tied to a specific value or right, while EMTs meet the more traditional stablecoin definition of a token fixed to the value of a single currency. So an ART could include Tether’s gold-based token XAUT, while Tether’s USD-pegged token USDT is an EMT. (Note: Tether has opted out of complying with MiCA, forcing digital asset exchanges to delist Tether tokens ahead of the July 1 deadline.)
‘Significant’ issuers are those that tick three (out of 10) boxes on the EBA’s checklist, (more than 10 million users, market cap over €5 billion, daily volume over €500 million, etc.). As with the U.K.’s proposed ‘systemic’ stablecoin rules, the idea is to keep an eye on major issuers in order to safeguard the wider financial system in case an issuer fails.
MiCA cites no minimum penalty for infractions, but s-ART issuers can be fined a maximum of either 12.5% of annual turnover in the preceding business year, or 2x their profits gained/losses avoided because of the infringement (in cases where such figures can be determined). s-EMT issuers could face up to 10% of annual turnover or 2x the profits gained/losses avoided.
The EBA says its draft methodology offers three categories of infringements: conflict of interest, organizational or operational requirements; disclosure provisions to the public or transparency; and obstacles to supervisory authorities’ activities. This latter category includes an issuer providing incorrect or misleading information to the EBA.
The precise methodology breaks down how each aspect of infringement gets you closer and closer to the stated maximum penalties, as well as adjustments for aggravating and mitigating factors. If you’re a stablecoin issuer and you plan to break the law, we suggest you read it carefully. The EBA is accepting comments on its proposed penalties until September 28.
Watch: What is MiCA? Understanding the EU regulatory framework with Juan Ignacio Ibanez
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