Binance pulled its application to become a licensed crypto exchange in Greece, the newsroom understands from The Block. The move gives the exchange exactly one week to obtain authorization to operate legally across the European Union under MiCA, the bloc's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.
Co-CEO Richard Teng told The Block the company remains committed to securing an EU license, though he did not detail the Greece reversal or name which jurisdiction Binance is now pursuing. "We continue to work actively with regulators across Europe," Teng said in a statement.
The withdrawal is a sharp tactical shift. Greece had offered Binance a narrower path: licensure in a single jurisdiction that would allow the exchange to serve roughly 2,000 EU-registered users. That route would not permit Binance to offer services to the broader European market without triggering MiCA compliance obligations—a much heavier lift.
MiCA imposes detailed operational, governance, and custody standards on any exchange wanting to reach the EU's 450 million residents. Securing a full license means months of regulatory paperwork, external audits, and capital requirements. Binance has not clarified which regulator it is now negotiating with or how realistic a seven-day close actually is.
The deadline pressure underscores a broader regulatory squeeze on centralized exchanges in Europe. MiCA took effect in December 2023, and the licensing window for existing operators to transition to full compliance closed in July 2024. Binance's pivot from Greece to a faster EU-wide route suggests the exchange believes one-market licensure offers diminishing value. Whether a single regulator can issue authorization in a week remains an open question; most European licensing processes consume months.