Binance is still onboarding new EU customers more than seven weeks after the July 1 MiCA licensing deadline, according to a Sandmark report shared with crypto.news. Tests across Austria, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium found that applicants could register, complete identity verification and, in at least two cases, fully verify accounts and receive crypto deposits without seeing a warning that Binance lacked authorization under the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.
One account created on Aug. 19 using a European identity document and residential address was verified and subsequently funded with cryptocurrency. The account did not exist before July 1. Binance withdrew its Greek MiCA application in June after licensing stalled and says it is pursuing authorization through another EU member state. It is absent from ESMA’s register of authorized providers.
ESMA had instructed unauthorized providers to stop onboarding new EU customers and implement wind-down plans by July 1. In an Aug. 11 review, only 281 of 1,343 providers operating in the European Economic Area had obtained MiCA authorization, leaving 1,062 without approval. By Aug. 20, the register contained 330 authorized providers. Binance was not among them. Austria’s FMA announced its first MiCA enforcement case on Aug. 14, fining Vienna-based Bitpanda €70,000 for whitepaper and marketing disclosure failures.
Meanwhile, Hungary has repealed its unique national rules on crypto-asset conversions to align with EU MiCA. Act XXXVIII of 2026, effective Aug. 7, eliminated a requirement for parties to obtain a compliance statement from a licensed local validating service provider before converting crypto-assets into fiat or other crypto-assets. The previous regime, introduced via Hungary’s 2024 crypto-assets market act and in force from July 1, 2025, treated non-validated conversions as unauthorized, ineffective and potentially criminal. It also carried penalties of up to two to eight years depending on value and circumstances. The repeal leaves core MiCA licensing and supervisory obligations administered by the National Bank of Hungary intact.
The parallel developments show EU crypto regulation is still taking shape: major platforms face scrutiny over MiCA compliance, while member states are removing extra national burdens that conflict with the bloc-wide framework.
