Binance Pulls EU Licence Bid In Greece, Faces June 30 Deadline To Find Alternative

Binance is running out of time and options in Europe. The world’s largest crypto exchange confirmed on Wednesday it has withdrawn its application for a crypto license in Greece under the European Union’s (EU) Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework, with just days remaining before a continent-wide deadline that could force it to shut down EU operations entirely.

Three Countries, Three Rejections 

Gillian Lynch, Binance’s head of Europe and the United Kingdom, told Reuters the company is not walking away from Europe but is now looking at what she described as a “different pathway” to authorization. “If it is not Greece, I’m looking at other alternatives,” Lynch said.

But the Greek setback is not the only door that appears to have closed for the exchange. Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Binance had held talks with regulators in Ireland, Latvia, and Greece over the past period, but encountered resistance in each. 

Officials in those countries were said to be particularly concerned about Binance’s previous penalties related to money laundering, the complexity of its international corporate structure, and what regulators characterized internally as a risk-taking culture embedded in the company’s operations.

Lynch said Binance does not know why it was ultimately denied in Greece, despite having previously believed the Greek regulator would approve the application. She said the company had reached out to four or five regulators in total, but only formally submitted one application — to Greece. 

Binance Maintains It Qualified 

On Tuesday, the European Securities and Markets Authority — the EU’s top securities regulator — issued a stark warning stating that any firm operating without a MiCA license must take immediate steps to wind down its EU activities.

MiCA, which took effect last year, was designed to bring the crypto industry under a unified regulatory framework across the EU’s 27 member states. Under the rules, securing authorization in a single EU country grants a company the right to operate across the entire bloc — a structure Binance had been counting on.

Binance has maintained throughout the process that it met MiCA’s requirements. Eleanor Hughes, the company’s general counsel, said last week that Binance believes it has satisfied the full set of rules, while noting that licensing decisions ultimately rest with national regulators. 

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