Lagarde Blocks Binance EU License Bid Over Regulatory Fears

Binance's bid for an EU crypto license was personally blocked by European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Lagarde raised concerns over Binance's past US regulatory violations and the risk that wider dollar stablecoin use could weaken the ECB's planned digital euro.

The exchange had applied through Greek regulators for a crypto-asset service provider license under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, which lets one member state's approval cover the entire bloc. Greek authorities told the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in early June that they intended to approve the bid.

Lagarde reportedly saw Binance's history of guilty pleas to US money-laundering and sanctions violations as a compliance red flag, and feared that its entry would accelerate dollar stablecoin adoption in Europe, undercutting the ECB's own digital euro project. The ECB holds no formal authority over exchange licensing under MiCA, which sits with national regulators.