Two sources say Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission is set to deny Binance’s application for a Markets in Crypto-Assets license, a decision that would effectively lock the exchange out of the European Union.

Binance, for its part, insists it has met EU authorization requirements.

What happened and why Greece matters

Binance submitted its MiCA license application to Greece’s HCMC in January 2026. The exchange had established a local holding company, Binary Greece, around the same time to anchor its European operations. Co-CEO Richard Teng previously pointed to Greece’s workforce quality and growth potential as reasons for choosing Athens as the regulatory home base.

The choice was deliberate. Rather than applying in Germany or the Netherlands, where regulators had already issued dozens of MiCA licenses, Binance opted for a jurisdiction that hadn’t yet approved a single one. As of early 2026, Germany had granted over 45 MiCA licenses and the Netherlands had issued 22. Greece: zero.

A rejection from Greek authorities would put Binance on the wrong side of the EU’s hard compliance deadline of July 1, 2026, the date by which every crypto-asset service provider operating in the bloc must hold proper MiCA authorization. No license by July 1 means no legal operations anywhere in the EU.

The regulatory squeeze tightening around Binance

France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers previously flagged Binance among approximately 89 firms operating without proper licensing as the MiCA deadline approached.

Major consulting firms including PwC and Deloitte have reportedly been assisting Greek authorities in reviewing license applications.