Lagarde Reportedly Halted Binance's EU Licensing Route Through Greece
Regulation & Gov ·
A Wall Street Journal report says the ECB president stepped in directly to stop Binance from securing bloc-wide market access via Greek regulators.
Binance's push for a passport-style license covering the entire European Union has stalled after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde personally intervened in the process, according to a Wall Street Journal account. Greece's financial regulator had reportedly told the exchange that its application review was finished, putting Binance on the verge of a rare EU-wide approval.
The exchange had reportedly gone as far as drafting a public announcement calling the approval a "major milestone," and chief executive Richard Teng had planned a trip to Athens to appear alongside the Greek prime minister once the license cleared. That rollout did not happen, with the reporting attributing the reversal to Lagarde's direct involvement rather than a routine regulatory setback.
The mechanism of a single-country license unlocking access across the entire EU is central to why this matters: had Greece's approval stood, Binance would have gained a foothold across the bloc without needing separate sign-off in each member state. Blocking the deal at that late stage suggests concern reached the level of the central bank's leadership rather than staying confined to national supervisors.
A second account in the same cluster frames the intervention as tied to protecting the planned digital euro, suggesting Lagarde's involvement was motivated by shielding the ECB's own currency initiative from competition posed by a major crypto exchange gaining EU-wide standing. That detail is corroborated separately from the original Journal report but has not been confirmed by Binance, the ECB, or Greek authorities in the material available.
What remains unclear is whether Greece's regulator has formally withdrawn or merely paused its earlier assessment, what specific legal or procedural grounds were cited, and whether Binance intends to pursue licensing through another EU member state. Statements from the ECB, Binance, or Greek officials addressing the Journal's account have not yet surfaced.