Lagarde Blocks Binance EU License Bid Amid Digital Euro Concerns

The European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde personally intervened to block Binance's bid for an EU-wide license in Greece, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. In January 2026, Binance applied for its MiCA license in Greece and had seemingly made significant progress, with Greek officials notifying the exchange that an approval was imminent.

The WSJ reconstruction reveals that Lagarde phoned Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis directly to veto the application, citing concerns over Binance's 2023 guilty plea on money-laundering violations in the US and its potential impact on the ECB's digital euro project. The alleged intervention was reportedly motivated by the ECB's fear of Binance's stablecoin scale accelerating dollar dominance inside the eurozone.

Binance withdrew its Greek MiCA filing on June 24, days before the July 1 EU licensing deadline, and has since struggled to secure a license in other EU countries. The exchange suspended crypto trading after failing to obtain a MiCA license through France's AMF before the deadline, leaving many investors wondering what this means for Binance's future in Europe.