Europe's Crypto "Survival Line": Binance Blocked Outside, Who Got the Pass?
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Europe's Crypto "Survival Line": Binance Blocked Outside, Who Got the Pass?
The EU crypto regulatory framework MiCA will take effect on July 1.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Claude, TechFlow
TechFlow Editor's Note: The EU crypto regulatory framework MiCA will hit its deadline on July 1. Among over 1,200 licensed institutions across Europe, only about 210 have obtained the CASP pass, a pass rate of approximately 17%. The world's largest exchange, Binance, will suspend most EU services from July 1; after withdrawing its Greece license application, it is turning to France. Bybit's global site is simultaneously restricting EEA users, directing traffic to the licensed Bybit EU. Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Crypto.com, and others hold passes, reshuffling the European crypto landscape.
July 1 is the day the transition period for the EU "Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation" (MiCA) ends. After this day, any crypto platform wishing to serve EU clients must hold at least one CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) license issued by a regulatory authority of a member state; otherwise, it is illegal and must cease operations. ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) has clarified multiple times: no grace period, no extension, no intermediate state.
Either licensed, or illegal.
Pass Rate Only 17%, World's Largest Exchange Fails Instead
The real lethality of MiCA is reflected in one number.
According to CCN citing ESMA temporary register data, before MiCA there were over 1,200 institutions holding VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) registrations issued by various countries across Europe, but as of May 2026, only about 210 had completed the conversion to CASP licenses, a pass rate of approximately 17%. The remaining over 80% of institutions either missed the window, had no legal identity because the process was unfinished, or quietly exited.
Binance fell on the non-compliant side. It previously bet on Greece as the entry point to the EU, submitting a MiCA application through its Greek subsidiary in January 2026. Co-CEO Richard Teng publicly stated in February that Greece's talent reserve and security environment made it superior to larger financial centers. However, on June 16, Reuters reported that the Greek financial regulatory authority (HCMC) was preparing to reject the application. According to the Financial Times, obstacles centered on anti-money laundering compliance and MiCA's "fit and proper" standards for shareholders and managers, with the core issue being co-founder Changpeng Zhao's past legal record and corporate governance structure. Regulatory authorities from Greece, Ireland, and Latvia had jointly tracked this application.
On June 24, Binance proactively withdrew its Greek application before being formally rejected, emphasizing "no formal rejection received"—this wording was deliberate, leaving room for subsequent reapplication. Binance Europe Head Gillian Lynch told Reuters "Binance is not leaving Europe," and the company plans to turn to France to seek a license, stating it could obtain one "within the next few months."
For EU users, this means that from July 1, Binance will stop accepting new users in markets such as France, Italy, Poland, and Spain, and restrict certain services. Binance promises asset safety and normal withdrawals, but new trading and deposit channels will be cut. Whether it can obtain a license through France within a few months is key to Binance's return—however, French regulators themselves have an outstanding investigation into Binance. If France approves what Greece was prepared to reject, it would expose differences in the scale of MiCA enforcement among member states.
For EU readers holding Binance accounts, what needs to be done now is to pay attention to account notifications sent directly by Binance, handle positions according to guidelines before the deadline, or transfer assets to self-custody wallets and other licensed platforms.
Bybit Also Restricts EEA Users, But Nature is Opposite to Binance
Just around the same time Binance announced the suspension of services, Bybit also issued a restriction notice to European Economic Area (EEA) users, covering 29 EEA countries including Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. On the surface it looks like the same thing, but in reality the direction is completely opposite.
Bybit obtained its MiCA license through the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) as early as May 2025, and operates an independent compliant entity, Bybit EU (bybit.eu, headquartered in Vienna), which launched in July 2025. It is now restricting access to the global site bybit.com for EEA users, directing these users to the licensed Bybit EU. In other words, Bybit is "active compliant diversion after obtaining a license," while Binance is "forced suspension without a license." Malta is excluded from Bybit's restriction list because Bybit EU's license has not yet been passported to Malta.
The user experience differences between the two are also very practical. Bybit EU currently focuses on spot, spot leverage, Earn wealth management, and the Bybit Card, but lacks the global site's signature perpetual contracts and options—these derivatives require an additional MiFID II license, which Bybit has applied for; until approved, EEA users cannot use them. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated plainly in an April interview with CoinDesk that relying solely on a MiCA license cannot make money in Europe: "We are not making money under the existing MiCA license, but as a large institution we can bear it; this is a long-term investment."
For EU readers, Bybit users and Binance users are in different situations: Bybit users are migrating to a licensed platform within the same group (requiring re-completion of KYC), with account continuity guaranteed; Binance users face a platform without a license and service interruption, needing to actively find alternative solutions.
Winners Who Got the Pass: Coinbase, Kraken, OKX Lead
The other side of the license liquidation is that a batch of compliance pioneers have obtained passes sweeping across 27 countries.
According to cross-confirmation from the ESMA register and multiple media outlets, confirmed licensed mainstream exchanges include: Coinbase (Luxembourg CSSF), Kraken (Ireland CBI and Luxembourg), OKX (Malta MFSA), Crypto.com (Malta MFSA), Bitstamp (Luxembourg CSSF), Bitpanda (Austria FMA), Bitvavo (Netherlands AFM), Gate.io EU (Malta MFSA), as well as Revolut, eToro, and others. The core attraction of MiCA's passport mechanism is: obtaining a license in any member state allows serving all 27 EU countries plus the entire EEA market of Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, covering nearly 500 million people.
The geographic distribution of licensed institutions has formed several clear clusters. Luxembourg has attracted global brands pursuing fast all-Europe coverage (Coinbase, Bitstamp); Malta, relying on its years of crypto regulatory experience, has become an exchange hub (OKX, Crypto.com, Gate); Germany leads in quantity with 53 licensed institutions, mostly bank-affiliated and broker-affiliated institutions.
Not all large platforms passed smoothly. KuCoin was banned by the Austrian FMA in February 2026, barred from the EU; Gemini exited Europe on April 6, closing EEA accounts. These cases, along with Binance, illustrate that MiCA treats large and small institutions equally, distinguishing only between licensed and unlicensed.
For EU readers, the practical significance of choosing a licensed platform lies in fund protection: licensed institutions are subject to continuous supervision by designated regulators, must segregate client assets, meet capital requirements, and users can seek legal remedies through European courts and member state regulators. Any platform's license status can be verified in one minute via the public CASP register of ESMA.
USDT Shut Out, European Users Must Swap Coins Before Deadline
The license liquidation affects not only exchanges but also stablecoins.
The world's largest stablecoin by trading volume, USDT (Tether), did not apply for MiCA's EMT (Electronic Money Token) license, and therefore cannot circulate compliantly on EU licensed platforms. Circle's USDC and EURC are the only ones among the top ten stablecoins by market cap to have obtained MiCA authorization. If licensed exchanges continue to provide unauthorized stablecoins to EU clients, it will endanger their own licenses; therefore, mainstream platforms have successively delisted USDT: Coinbase delisted for EEA users in December 2024, Crypto.com stopped in January 2025, Binance implemented geofencing for the EEA spot market in March 2025, and Kraken suspended EEA USDT spot trading during the same period.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino defended this, stating that MiCA requires 60% of token reserves to be placed in European bank deposits, which is incompatible with Tether's reserve model and could simultaneously trigger banking and stablecoin crises.
For EU readers holding USDT, the actions before the deadline are very specific: swap USDT for compliant assets (such as USDC, EURC, or Euro) on licensed platforms, or transfer to self-custody wallets—in decentralized scenarios, it is still legal to hold and exchange USDT, as this part is not subject to MiCA service provider rules.
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