The European Central Bank president may have urged Greece to reject Binance's MiCA license application.

According to Mars Finance, Greece rejected Binance's application for authorization under EU crypto asset market regulations, possibly due to political pressure from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde. Binance submitted its application to the Greek Capital Markets Committee earlier in 2026, established a holding company there, and passed key technical reviews, but the application was quickly reversed between June 7th and 15th, 2026. Lagarde told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at a meeting in May that Europe did not welcome Binance. This was because, as a leading platform providing stablecoin liquidity, Binance's size was seen by some policymakers as potentially complicating the ECB's digital euro project. With the Greek path blocked, Binance has shifted its focus to France to seek MiCA approval.