Strike Wins MiCA License for EU as Binance Faces July 1 Shutdown

For Binance users in the affected countries, new spot orders, deposits, and account registrations will stop July 1. The exchange has assured customers that withdrawals will remain available and their assets are safe. In the week after the Greece rejection, customers withdrew an estimated $400 million to $440 million in assets, about 0.3% of Binance's tracked $133.3 billion.

Strike offers Bitcoin-only services: buying and selling, fee-free recurring purchases, and free on-chain withdrawals. It also provides private client services for high-net-worth individuals and business accounts for corporate treasury and payments. For EU users looking for a regulated alternative, Strike is now one of the few firms with full MiCA authorization.

The Bitcoin Lending Angle

Beyond the license, Strike founder and CEO Jack Mallers recently announced a $2.1 billion credit facility for the company's Bitcoin-backed lending business, developed in partnership with Tether. Mallers said Bitcoin-backed lending has outperformed every other product Strike has launched. He estimated the total centralized-finance Bitcoin lending market at $20 billion to $30 billion against a $1.25 trillion asset class.

A separate proposal from Tether Investments would merge Strike with Twenty One Capital and Bitcoin miner Elektron Energy. Mallers said at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference in April that he supports the plan.

The MiCA divergence between Strike and Binance is a concrete test of how the regulatory framework reshapes competition. For traders holding assets on either platform, the immediate question is whether Binance's next authorization attempt succeeds before the restricted services become a permanent loss of market share. The crypto market analysis will track how EU users shift flows in the coming weeks. Bitcoin-backed lending, meanwhile, adds a new layer to Strike's business model that could attract institutional interest, as detailed in the Bitcoin (BTC) profile.