By Elizabeth Howcroft, John O’Donnell and Francesco Canepa
PARIS/BERLIN, June 24 (Reuters) – Crypto platform Binance intends to stay in the European Union and will make a fresh push for permission to operate there, a senior executive told Reuters, after its application under a new licence regime failed, threatening access for millions of users.
“Binance is not leaving Europe,” Gillian Lynch, head of Europe and the United Kingdom, told Reuters, after its bid to secure a licence in Greece to offer services such as crypto trading in the EU unravelled.
“We may just have a different pathway to being authorised,” she said. “If it is not Greece, I’m looking at other alternatives.”
The comments put Binance on a potential collision course with European regulators. The company has one week to secure a licence before its current permission to operate in Europe expires, which would require it to wind down EU operations.
Two people with knowledge of the process told Reuters that Binance has held talks with regulators in Ireland, Latvia and Greece but faced resistance in all three countries.
They said officials were concerned about the company’s past penalties for money laundering, its complex international structure and what they viewed as a risk-taking culture.
Regulators in the three countries declined to comment, or did not respond.
The approaches to several regulators highlight how one of the world’s largest crypto companies has struggled to overcome regulatory resistance to securing an EU licence.
Lynch said Binance did not know why it had been refused approval and had previously believed the Greek regulator planned to grant a licence.
She said Binance had contacted four or five regulators but only made one application, to Greece.
Asked about Binance’s past problems, Lynch said Binance had invested in compliance and internal controls, employed about 1,500 compliance staff, and had no outstanding issues related to its application.
REGULATORY CONCERNS
Binance’s failure to secure an EU licence before the June 30 deadline raises uncertainty over its future in the bloc. Whether authorities can now enforce what would amount to a ban will test the strength of the EU’s new crypto rules.
On Tuesday, the European Securities and Markets Authority said crypto firms without a licence must “take immediate steps to wind down their EU activities in an orderly manner”.
The EU’s landmark crypto regime, known as MiCA, came into force last year, giving firms until end-June to obtain authorisation in one member state to serve customers across the 27-country bloc.
Binance says it has more than 300 million customers globally but declined to say how many are in the EU. The app was downloaded more than 4 million times in the bloc last year, with most downloads in France, Germany and Spain, according to estimates from Sensor Tower.
Regulators assessing Binance’s bid were also concerned about the background of senior executives and the exchange’s record on money laundering controls, which they viewed as inadequate, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
One source pointed to the influence of founder Changpeng Zhao, who said in a February podcast that he remained the ultimate beneficial owner, as well as Binance’s complex global structure.
Lynch told Reuters Zhao is “100% removed” from the company.
Binance has previously struggled to win regulatory approval elsewhere. It is unauthorised in the UK and was told to leave Japan after operating there without a licence. Its main licence is now in the United Arab Emirates.
In 2023, Zhao — known as CZ — pleaded guilty to breaching U.S. anti-money laundering laws as part of a $4.3 billion settlement following a years-long investigation.
He served nearly four months in prison before being pardoned last year by U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. authorities said Binance had broken anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and failed to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions linked to groups designated by Washington as terrorist organisations.
REGULATORS COORDINATE
Under MiCA, crypto firms can apply through a single national regulator and use that as a “passport” to sell services across the bloc.
Regulators in Latvia, Ireland and Greece coordinated closely to ensure a consistent approach to Binance’s application, one of the sources said.
Some regulators have raised concern that uneven enforcement could undermine efforts to oversee a multibillion-dollar industry they warn could destabilise markets, facilitate illicit finance and harm investors if not properly supervised.
Binance believes it met MiCA’s requirements, its general counsel Eleanor Hughes said last week. While national regulators grant licences, applications can be discussed through ESMA.
(Reporting by John O’Donnell, Elizabeth Howcroft, Francesco Canepa and Lefteris Papadimas. Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Elisa Martinuzzi and Mark Potter)
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