Binance Pivots to France After Lagarde Blocks Greece MiCA License

Binance is in talks with France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers for a MiCA license, the outlet The Big Whale reported Wednesday. The move comes after ECB President Christine Lagarde blocked the exchange’s application in Greece just before the July 1 deadline. The exchange has not filed a formal application yet. People close to the process said the paperwork is ready to submit.

Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission had been preparing to reject Binance’s Greek bid, Reuters reported earlier. The Big Whale described Lagarde’s opposition as political, not regulatory. The ECB has been pushing the Digital Euro as a state-backed alternative to stablecoins. Cutting off Binance, a major liquidity channel for dollar-pegged tokens like USDT and USDC, weakens private stablecoin infrastructure in Europe.

Binance already holds a digital asset service provider registration with the AMF in France. That registration covers custody and spot trading only. A full MiCA license would allow Binance to passport its services across all 27 EU member states after the transitional period expires on July 1.

Under the new EU rules, crypto firms must hold a MiCA license by the end of June to continue serving the bloc’s clients. Without one, Binance would lose access to Europe’s market. A French approval would solve that.