Binance is moving in the direction of applying for a pan-European MiCA licence to legitimize its operations in the EU region. As per media reports, Greece will become the entry point for Binance to establish its footing in EU. The process has already been initiated and the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) is already fast tracking the documentation work.
Citing Binance sources familiar with the ongoing paperwork, the company’s licencing work is being processed in Athens that has onboarded accounting firms like Ernst & Young and KPMG to review Binance’s paperwork.
It is notable that Binance has waited up until very close to the deadline of July 1 to go forward with its licencing work in the EU. In recent months, the exchange had reportedly started to restrict services in its EU markets owing to the lack of proper registrations.
In the backdrop of this chaos, France recently issued Binance a warning against running unlicensed operations in the region. The Autorité des Marchés Financiers issued similar warnings to over 90 exchanges — highlighting the significant number of unregistered crypto firms operating in the markets there.
For now, it remains unclear by when would Binance obtain its MiCA registration. It could take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months.
EU’s MiCA registration comes with a “passporting” feature. Essentially, this allows crypto firms to acquire registration from any one of the EU regions and operate across the region.
The licence ensures that the crypto companies are compliant with anti money laundering and KYC guidelines among other legal requirements. MiCA is one of world’s most comprehensive crypto rulebooks that went into full effect in December 2024.
MoonPay, KuCoin, and Gemini are among other crypto firms that have already completed their registrations in the EU.