Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, personally asked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis not to approve Binance's application for a licence under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Binance had filed its MiCA application in Greece. Approval there would have allowed the exchange to passport its services across the rest of the European Union under the bloc's single licensing regime.
According to the Wall Street Journal's reporting, Lagarde's objections centred on Binance's history of violations in the United States and doubts over whether the exchange would comply with European rules on a lasting basis. She is also reported to have expressed concern that a strong Binance presence in Europe could give additional momentum to dollar-denominated stablecoins, at a time when the ECB is developing its own digital euro and seeks to prevent the bloc's payment system from becoming more dependent on US dollar-based tokens.
Application withdrawn before formal rejection
Binance has said the review by the Greek financial regulator was far advanced and that the company believed it had met the requirements for a licence. The exchange said it was informed by a representative of the Greek regulator that Lagarde opposed the application.
Formally, the ECB has no final say over MiCA licensing decisions, which are issued by national competent authorities rather than by the central bank. Binance withdrew its application in June, before Greece issued any formal rejection.
The company has said it intends to apply for a licence in another EU member state and remains committed to the European market over the long term. Since July, without MiCA approval, Binance is no longer able to offer new crypto services across the entire EU in the way it previously could.
What it means for the market
The episode illustrates the political weight carried by the ECB in shaping how MiCA is applied in practice, even though the regulation formally leaves licensing decisions to national authorities. For an exchange the size of Binance, the loss of a straightforward path to an EU-wide passport marks a setback in its efforts to normalise its regulatory standing in Europe following past compliance issues in other jurisdictions.
The Wall Street Journal's report was published under the headline "Risiko für die Europäische Finanzstabilität," underscoring the framing of Binance's potential EU footprint as a matter of financial stability rather than routine licensing.
