Lagarde Personally Intervened Against Binance’s Bid for…
The Wall Street Journal says ECB President Christine Lagarde privately urged Greek officials to reject Binance's MiCA application, which would have granted passporting rights across all 27 EU states.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde personally intervened to discourage Greek authorities from approving Binance's bid for a European Union-wide crypto license, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on September 18 and citing people familiar with the matter. Lagarde is said to have raised concerns about the exchange's compliance record and about the systemic implications of large crypto platforms and dollar-backed stablecoins for Europe's financial system.
The intervention was influential rather than formally decisive. Under the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, crypto-asset service providers are licensed by national competent authorities, and in Greece that role sits with the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, not the ECB. Approval in Greece would nonetheless have carried weight: a MiCA license lets an authorized provider passport its services across all 27 member states without seeking separate permits in each.
Binance says its file had cleared review
Binance filed its Greek application in early 2026 and said in June that it had worked with the HCMC for months, understood the regulator had completed its review and considered the filing MiCA-compliant, and that the application had also been examined at the European Securities and Markets Authority level. Greek newspaper Kathimerini later reported the process had become politicized and that the ECB played a decisive role, allegedly signaling that Binance was not welcome in Europe.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao subsequently described the application as fully compliant and close to approval before political forces intervened, though he said he holds no documents verifying allegations specifically concerning Lagarde. Binance withdrew the Greek MiCA application on June 24, before the HCMC issued any formal rejection, and said it would pursue authorization in another EU member state.
The dispute sits alongside a wider ECB push for European payments sovereignty. Lagarde and other ECB officials have repeatedly warned that heavy adoption of dollar-denominated stablecoins could increase Europe's reliance on U.S.-linked payment infrastructure while the central bank develops the digital euro. For Binance, the regulatory backdrop is also shaped by its 2023 guilty plea in the United States to anti-money-laundering, sanctions and money-transmission violations, resolved with more than $4.3 billion in payments; Zhao resigned as chief executive and pleaded guilty separately to failing to maintain an effective AML program. Binance remains without a MiCA license.
Source: FinanceFeeds