The shady cryptocurrency trading market will be partially cleaned up in the European Economic Area (EEA) from July 1st. According to industry observers, there are currently more than 1,200 providers, but only around 200 have acquired a license. The most prominent departure is Binance, which is considered the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
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Since the end of 2024, there have been EEA-wide licenses under EU Regulation 2023/1114 on markets in crypto assets (known as MiCA, for markets in crypto assets). Providers only need to obtain a license in one country, which is then valid throughout the EEA. However, the requirements are the same everywhere: Because large amounts of money from speculators are at stake, the operators have to show that they have sufficient equity, how they manage their platforms, how they protect customer balances and, last but not least, how they prevent money laundering.
This is where Binance failed: The US company wanted a Greek license, but withdrew its application after the Greek authorities signaled a rejection last week. Subsequent discussions with authorities in some other countries are unlikely to have been fruitful – the regulations are now uniform. To date, Binance operates in all EEA states except the Netherlands and Liechtenstein.
A transition period runs until the end of June: older licenses issued according to different national regulations will then lose their validity. Nevertheless, Binance initially relied on perseverance slogans: “Binance is not leaving Europe,” Reuters quoted Binance’s European manager Gillian Lynch as saying on Wednesday. She was looking for “another path” to approval, but didn’t know why Greece wanted to reject the application. She left it open how a new license could be issued in a few days.
It’s the End
And in fact, on the same day, Binance informed European customers about the impending cessation of business operations on June 30th: a notice sent to French customers is circulating online. From now on, Binance will no longer accept new customers; existing customers will be processed gradually in accordance with the requirements of the MiCA regulation. Any credit will remain intact.
On July 1st, all open orders from affected customers will be automatically deleted and their trading bots will be deactivated. Sales of cryptocurrency units for euros and exchanges for USDC stablecoins remain possible. Binance will no longer accept fresh money, but cash balances will be paid out upon request.
Offers that are intended to lure speculators with possible interest payments or other profits will also be canceled. This applies, for example, to staking and cloud mining products. Binance credits these credits to the customer account; any credits in the interest-paying coin RWUSD are automatically converted into USDC. Bets on new cryptocurrencies through the Launchpad and Launchpool offers are also canceled.
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There is a little more time to pay off debts: Anyone who has open Binance Loans or Flexible Loans should repay them by September at the latest. Otherwise, the outstanding debts will be paid off through the automatic sale of the deposited securities on October 1st, regardless of what price can be achieved at that time.
Three options, 200 alternatives
The situation should be similar for the smaller, around 1,000 providers who have either not applied for a license or have not met the requirements. Account holders have three options: they can transfer their cryptocurrency units to a self-hosted wallet, sell them or have them transferred to one of over 200 licensed providers. But be careful: The big change is likely to attract fraudsters, which is why transactions and recipients should be checked particularly carefully.
Binance has experience with such settlements. It has already had to withdraw from several countries because it cannot or does not want to comply with the regulations. In the US, both the company and its Canadian owner Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have pleaded guilty to money laundering offences. He was sent to prison for four months in 2023. After billion-dollar deals with Donald Trump, he later pardoned CZ. In Canada, Binance was fined millions for money laundering violations and ceased operations.
The company vowed to improve, but CZ had to withdraw. The fact that he nevertheless intervened publicly and also stated that he was still the owner certainly did not support the efforts for a MiCA license. And in February it emerged that Binance had fired employees who were investigating potentially illegal transactions worth billions of dollars.
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