Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance issued a notice to users in the European Union that the company will stop providing all services to EU customers starting next week due to failure to obtain an EU regional operating license. The Financial Times reported on Friday that Binance’s application for a unified EU encryption license in Greece was rejected last week.
According to the EU's Crypto-Asset Market Regulation (MiCA), all crypto-asset operating companies must obtain a compliance license before July 1, 2026. Companies that fail to obtain a license after the expiration date will face regulatory penalties.
In an interview with the American Consumer News and Business Channel, Binance stated that it would choose other EU member states to reapply for operating authorization. According to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, Binance plans to apply for a license in France, but the approval time is likely to be significantly later than the July 1 compliance deadline.
The report mentioned that Binance currently holds local compliance licenses in Poland, Italy, Spain, and France. Users in the above four countries have received official emails this week, and the platform details the steps for withdrawing crypto assets.
Binance also responded: “We will take all necessary measures before July 1 to ensure that our business complies with current regulatory requirements.”
The company added that the services of some users will be affected by this business adjustment, and the platform will continue to synchronize official notifications and clearly inform affected users of the follow-up treatment plan. Binance stated that it is confident that it will successfully obtain an EU compliance operating license in the next few months.
After this business turmoil occurred, many crypto peers that had obtained EU licenses began to take the opportunity to promote their own businesses. Eric Demuth, founder of Bitpanda, posted a statement on social platform X:
"When our peers are pursuing expansion speed, we always adhere to compliance trust. Whether you agree with the EU's regulatory model or not, the objective fact is that the EU attaches great importance to industry regulation and consumer rights protection. As a local European company, we have understood this from the beginning and have built a compliance business system based on it. If you have not experienced Bitpanda, now is the most appropriate time."
OKX founder Xu Mingxing also posted on social platform X to promote the compliant and trustworthy crypto financial services of his platform.
This setback in the EU business is another major regulatory setback that Binance has encountered in recent years:
Binance has been ordered by British regulatory authorities to completely cease local business operations since 2021; in 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges such as money laundering and violation of international financial sanctions, and paid a huge fine of more than 4.3 billion US dollars to U.S. regulatory authorities; last year, the French judicial department launched a criminal investigation into Binance for allegedly assisting money laundering, and Binance denied the relevant charges.
The cryptocurrency exchange, which claims to be the world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao. Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to imprisonment by a U.S. court in 2024 for money laundering-related violations, and was later pardoned by then U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025.