By CARLO BOFFA, EU Correspondent
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, filed two applications with Greek authorities — one of which the Bank of Greece was about to reject over compliance shortcomings before the company withdrew it.
The application filed with the central bank, which has never been reported, sought authorisation to issue stablecoins as an e-money institution (EMI). The exchange filed a separate application to operate as a crypto exchange with the Hellenic Capital Market Committee.
The central bank refused to grant Binance authorisation, as it deemed the application did not comply with all provisions of the legislative and supervisory framework.
European regulators have scrutinised Binance since the company pleaded guilty to breaching anti-money laundering rules in the US in November 2023. Binance was fined a record $4.3 billion and its chief executive, Changpeng Zhao — known as “CZ” — was jailed for five months before being pardoned by US President Donald Trump.
Binance is also under investigation by US prosecutors for a possible breach of Iranian sanctions, Bloomberg reported.
Stablecoins are considered safer than other forms of crypto because their value is pegged to that of regular currencies. However, the European Central Bank has warned that they could hamper Europe’s monetary sovereignty, as 99 per cent of them are issued in US dollars.
The Financial Action Task Force has said that stablecoins account for 84 per cent of unlawful cryptocurrency transactions.
A Binance spokesperson said the application for an EMI licence was not rejected. “We made the decision to voluntarily withdraw it.”
The withdrawal came around the time Binance also withdrew its other application, to operate as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP), in mid-June.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde had personally intervened to stop Binance from obtaining the crypto exchange licence.
However, the Bank of Greece denied that there had been any contact between its governor, Yannis Stournaras, and Lagarde, or that there had been any external pressure on the bank to reject Binance’s application to issue stablecoins.
“In the case at hand, the Bank of Greece simply applied the rules and did not ask or receive any advice or pressure by any other authority,” the bank said in a statement.
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