Binance has continued serving and onboarding some European Union customers more than two months after missing the July 1 MiCA licensing deadline, according to a Bloomberg report. The exchange has relied on the MiCA reverse solicitation provision and has routed some EU trading through an Abu Dhabi entity while it pursues authorization elsewhere.
Binance withdrew its Greek Markets in Crypto-Assets application on June 16, one day before the Hellenic Capital Market Commission was expected to consider it. Bloomberg reported that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde intervened behind the scenes to stop approval. The exchange says it remains committed to operating in the EU on a long-term, compliant basis and is actively working toward becoming MiCA-authorised.
ESMA has sought confirmation that Binance is properly winding down EU operations. In markets such as France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania, customers received emails asking them to leave the exchange, and some accounts were restricted to withdrawals. Still, tests in August found new EU users could register and verify accounts, and Binance held more than 45% of global spot trading volume in late August. Its euro-denominated trading share remained around 3% to 4%, largely unchanged from before the MiCA deadline.
Separately, Binance is facing a dispute over the AKEUSDT perpetual futures contract. A trader known as xunlu claims more than 30 positions were liquidated within minutes on September 3, causing losses of more than 5 million USDT. AKE surged from about $0.0076 to nearly $0.045, a rise of roughly 492%. Binance said its pricing model, risk controls and liquidation engine worked normally and blamed leveraged trading in a volatile market. The trader alleges a coordinated short squeeze, has demanded full trading and risk-control logs, and has not received compensation.
