EU Regulators Examine Binance’s Use of MiCA Exemption

European securities authorities and regulators in France, Germany and Greece are examining whether Binance properly relied on the MiCA reverse-solicitation exemption to continue serving some customers in the European Union without bloc-wide authorisation. Some regulators have requested information from the cryptocurrency exchange, and fines are possible if they are dissatisfied with its response, according to reporting based on people familiar with the matter. The scrutiny concerns a narrow provision allowing a company based outside the EU to serve a customer who initiates the relationship entirely on their own. The European Securities and Markets Authority has said the exemption should be treated as an exception and not used to circumvent the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA. MiCA’s transition period required covered crypto-asset firms to obtain authorisation by the end of June to continue providing regulated services across the bloc. Binance entered July without that authorisation. Regulators are examining whether its customer relationships and services meet the conditions for reverse solicitation.