Binance Suspends EU Services by July 1 After Failing to Secure MiCA License

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, this week has told customers in France, Italy, Spain, and Poland that it will suspend services by July 1, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The report comes as Binance has failed to obtain a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license before the regulation’s hard deadline.

Binance’s emails assured users that their assets remain safe and accessible “at all times,” CoinDesk reported Friday.

Binance on Wednesday withdrew its MiCA license application in Greece, citing “the timeline of the process.” The application had been submitted in January 2026 through a local holding company called Binary Greece, but the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) never issued a formal decision.

Binance now plans to apply through France, according to the Financial Times, but any French approval is expected to come well after July 1, leaving it unable to serve EU clients in the interim.

MiCA closes the last gap for unlicensed operators on July 1. Under the regulation, a single CASP license from any one EU member state passports across all 27 countries, but any firm without that authorization must halt EU operations entirely. National registrations that gave Binance a legal foothold in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and other markets before MiCA expired with the end of the transitional period. Competitors including Kraken, Coinbase, OKX, and Crypto.com secured their MiCA licenses months ago.

Binance in 2023 pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations in the United States and paid more than $4.3 billion in penalties. Founder Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down as CEO, pleaded guilty to failing to implement anti-money laundering controls at the exchange and served four months in prison before receiving a presidential pardon in October 2025. He retains roughly 90% of the exchange.

Greek regulators raised concerns about Binance’s AML controls and whether Zhao could pass MiCA’s “fit and proper” test. France separately opened a judicial investigation last year into whether Binance facilitated money laundering.

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