
17% customs clearance rate, who got the “life and death pass” to the EU crypto market?
Author: Claude, Shenzhen TechFlow Original title: European Crypto “Line of Life and Death”: Binance is blocked from the door, who got the pass? Guide to Deep Wave: MiCA, the EU's crypto regulatory framework, will be implemented on July 1. Out of more than 1200 licensed institutions across Europe, only about 210 have obtained CASP passes, with a customs clearance rate of about 17%. Binance, the world's largest exchange, suspended most EU services on July 1, and switched to France after withdrawing Greek license applications; Bybit Global simultaneously restricted EEA users and diverted them to the already licensed Bybit EU. Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Crypto.com, etc. held the pass, and the European crypto landscape was reshuffled. July 1 marks the end of the EU's Crypto Asset Market Regulation Act (MiCA) transition period. After this day, any crypto platform that wants to serve EU customers must hold a CASP (Crypto Asset Service Provider) license issued by the supervisory authority of at least one member state; otherwise, it is illegal and must stop operating. ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) has made it clear many times: there is no grace period, no extension, no intermediate status. Either it's licensed or it's illegal. With a customs clearance rate of only 17%, the world's largest exchange fell off the MiCA list. The real lethality is reflected in a number. According to CCN quoting ESMA provisional register data, MiCA previously had more than 1,200 institutions across Europe holding VASP (virtual asset service provider) registrations issued by various countries, but as of May 2026, only about 210 companies had completed the conversion to CASP licenses, with a customs clearance rate of about 17%. More than 80% of the remaining institutions either missed the window, had no legal status before completing the process, or quietly left the market. Binance has fallen on the side of the violation. It previously bet on Greece as an entry point into the European Union. In January 2026, it submitted a MiCA application through a Greek subsidiary. Co-CEO Richard Teng also publicly stated in February that Greece's talent reserves and security environment made it superior to a larger financial center. However, on June 16, Reuters reported that the Greek Financial Supervisory Authority (HCMC) is preparing to reject the application. According to the Financial Times, the barriers focus on anti-money laundering compliance and MiCA's “fit and proper” (suitability) standards for shareholders and managers. The core issues are the past legal records and corporate governance structure of co-founder Changpeng Zhao. The three regulators of Greece, Ireland, and Latvia have jointly followed up on this application. On June 24, Binance voluntarily withdrew the Greek application before it was officially rejected, stressing that “no formal veto has been received” — the wording was deliberate, leaving room for subsequent re-applications. Gillian Lynch, head of Binance Europe, told Reuters that “Binance has not left Europe” and that the company plans to turn to France to seek a license, saying it can be obtained “within the next few months.” For EU users, this means that Binance will stop accepting new users and limit some services in markets such as France, Italy, Poland, and Spain starting July 1. Binance promises that assets are safe and can be withdrawn normally, but new transactions and deposit channels will be cut off. Whether it can obtain a license through France within a few months is the key to Binance's return — and the French regulator itself has an unfinished investigation into Binance. If France approves what Greece is prepared to reject, it will also reveal differences in the scale of MiCA implementation by member countries. For EU readers with Binance accounts, what they need to do now is pay attention to account notifications directly sent by Binance, follow the guidelines to process positions before the deadline, or transfer assets to self-hosted wallets and other licensed platforms. Bybit also restricts EEA users, but the opposite of Binance is the same time that Binance announced the suspension of service. Bybit also issued a restriction notice for European Economic Area (EEA) users, covering 29 EEA countries including Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. On the face of it, it's the same thing; in reality, the direction is completely opposite. Bybit obtained a MiCA license through the Austrian Financial Markets Authority (FMA) as early as May 2025 and operated an independent compliance entity Bybit EU (bybit.eu, Vienna headquarters). The platform was launched in July 2025...





