Overview
- The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 18 that ECB President Christine Lagarde privately urged Greek leaders not to approve Binance’s application for a Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) passport, an account not publicly confirmed by the ECB or Greek authorities.
- Binance withdrew its Greek MiCA filing on June 24 before the Hellenic Capital Market Commission issued a decision, and the company says it will seek authorization from another EU member state.
- Under MiCA rules national regulators grant authorizations that then allow passporting across the EU, but the WSJ and other reporting say ESMA privately advised against Binance’s approval because of the company’s 2023 U.S. guilty plea and compliance concerns.
- After missing the July 1 transition deadline Binance has limited EU access through reverse solicitation and routing via an Abu Dhabi entity while ESMA has asked for information about whether the exchange properly wound down services that require MiCA authorization.
- The episode underlines ECB worries about dollar‑pegged stablecoins’ impact on Europe’s monetary sovereignty and feeds an active debate in Brussels over giving ESMA stronger direct supervision of the bloc’s largest crypto firms.