Lagarde Blocks Binance's EU License Bid Amid Money-Laundering Concerns

ECB President Christine Lagarde reportedly blocked Binance's bid for an EU MiCA license, citing concerns over money-laundering violations and stablecoin dominance. The license would have given Binance a single passport to offer services across all 27 member states.

Binance applied for the Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization in January 2026 through Greece's Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC). However, Lagarde personally asked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis not to approve the application, and Binance withdrew its filing on June 24.

The intervention was attributed to two of Lagarde's concerns: Binance's guilty plea in 2023 for breaches of the Bank Secrecy Act and other U.S. anti-money-laundering laws, as well as the ECB's fear that Binance's stablecoin scale would accelerate dollar dominance inside the eurozone.

The reported intervention has significant implications for Binance's operations in the EU, where it is currently locked out of the regulated market while competitors like Coinbase have secured licenses. Binance has leaned on MiCA's reverse solicitation carve-out and routes some EU trades through an Abu Dhabi entity that MiCA treats as a third country with no passporting rights.