ECB chief Christine Lagarde stepped in to block Binance’s entry into the EU market via a Greek MiCA license. As a result, the exchange withdrew its application and is now left without a European license.

How it went down

In early June, the Greek regulator was set to grant Binance a MiCA license: the exchange already had a press release ready to announce the “major milestone,” and CEO Richard Teng was planning to fly to Athens. But the very next day, a regulator rep told Binance that Lagarde had asked Greece’s prime minister not to approve the application.

Why Lagarde got involved

One big reason was to protect the digital euro. There were concerns that letting the world’s biggest crypto exchange in would boost the dominance of dollar stablecoins in Europe. Binance’s history of AML violations in the US didn’t help its case either. On top of that, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) had specifically recommended that regulators block Binance’s license bids — according to the same WSJ report with more details on the decision.

The bottom line

Binance has now pulled its MiCA license application in Greece and didn’t get a European license. The exchange has no other approvals in the EU as part of this process.