Lagarde Intervened to Block Binance's EU License Bid

The Wall Street Journal reported that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde intervened to prevent Binance from securing a crypto license in Greece. According to the report, a senior Greek official told Binance that Lagarde wished to postpone the decision until the European Securities and Markets Authority assumes licensing responsibilities for crypto exchanges under proposed EU reforms. Although the ECB lacks formal jurisdiction over these licenses, it acted on concerns that Binance’s scale would boost the use of dollar-based stablecoins in Europe.

Gillian Lynch, Binance’s head of Europe, told CoinDesk that the Hellenic Capital Market Commission had previously marked Binance’s application as complete. “We were deemed to have a complete application,” Lynch said. “Nothing was missing, nothing material was outstanding.”

Binance pulled its Greek application in mid-June. A spokesperson noted that the company remains focused on obtaining approval under EU regulations. “We are actively working toward becoming MiCA-authorised,” the spokesperson said.

The WSJ added that ESMA privately urged national regulators to deny Binance’s applications due to its history of compliance failures. In 2023, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao admitted to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and settled for $4.3 billion in penalties. He spent four months in a California prison in 2024 before receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump in October 2025. An ECB spokesperson did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.