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Crypto exchanges 26.06: Binance warns EU clients · NorriWire
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Crypto exchanges 26.06: Binance warns EU clients
Four days before the MiCA deadline, the world's largest exchange Binance began directly notifying customers in France, Italy, Poland and Spain that it will suspend most services in the EU from 1 July. Bitcoin held near 59,000 dollars, while US funds saw a seventh straight day of outflows. Latvijas Banka issued two new MiCA licences, Hodleris and Bleap, while Firi, Coinmotion, Safello and Coingate already operate legally.
Toms Ābeltiņš
6 min read
Friday 26 June: Binance began sending notices to clients in EU countries about suspending services from 1 July after failing to obtain a MiCA licence. Bitcoin near 59,000 dollars as a record sum flows out of the IBIT fund. Firi, Coinmotion, Safello and Coingate already licensed. Latvijas Banka issued two new MiCA licences, Hodleris and Bleap, nine in total. Four days remain until the MiCA deadline.
Friday, 26 June 2026 passed in the crypto market under the sign of the MiCA countdown. The world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, began directly notifying customers in several European Union countries that it will suspend most services from the start of July because it has not obtained a MiCA licence in time. At the same time, Bitcoin held close to 59,000 dollars, while US exchange-traded funds saw another day of record-scale outflows. For users in the Baltics and the Nordics, the pressing question stayed the same: will the exchange they use still be legal after 1 July. The strongest positive news in the region came from Latvia, where Latvijas Banka announced two new MiCA licences on the same day.
Binance starts notifying EU customers directly
If on 25 June Binance publicly announced plans to restrict its operations in Europe, then on 26 June the company took the next step and began sending direct notices to customers. According to media reports, emails went out to users in France, Italy, Poland and Spain, warning that from 1 July most services will be suspended for European Union residents.
In practice this means new orders, deposits, sign-ups and staking products will be halted. Binance stressed that customer funds remain safe and can still be withdrawn, and reaffirmed its intention to obtain a European licence and return within the coming months. Earlier in the week, the company withdrew its MiCA application in Greece and now names France as its next possible home, where it already holds a pre-MiCA digital asset service provider registration.
This case vividly shows that even the market leader receives no automatic guarantees under the new regime. The head of OKX Europe said this week that roughly eighty percent of crypto exchanges will probably not survive the MiCA transition in their current form.
Four days to the MiCA deadline
The MiCA transition period in the European Union ends on 30 June, and from 1 July any service provider offering crypto-asset exchange, custody or other services in the European Economic Area will need a full crypto-asset service provider, or CASP, licence. After 26 June, only four days remained until the deadline, and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) had already confirmed that there would be no extension.
The scale is considerable. According to ESMA's interim register, just over two hundred companies across the European Union had obtained full CASP authorisation. That is only a small share of the more than three thousand companies that previously operated under national registrations, around seven percent. A large part of the legacy players will either cease operating in the European market or temporarily suspend activity while completing authorisation.
It is worth remembering that in Latvia, Lithuania and Finland the transition period was one of the shortest in Europe. This means companies in these countries had to arrange their licences earlier than in many other member states, and the region's regulators have long been strict in their requirements.
Baltic and Nordic exchanges: the licensed players
In contrast to Binance, several regional exchanges have already secured their future in the European market. Norway-based Firi, the largest crypto exchange in the Nordics with more than four hundred thousand users, received a MiCA licence from the Norwegian financial supervisory authority in May and is expanding into Sweden, which becomes its third Nordic market. In Finland, Coinmotion has obtained a licence, while in Sweden Safello has secured full CASP authorisation.
In the Baltics, the focus is on Lithuania, where the Bank of Lithuania supervises CASP licensing. Significant players have received authorisation, including the payments and crypto services company Coingate. In Latvia, Latvijas Banka issued a CASP licence to Paybis this spring, while in Denmark the staking service provider Northstake gained authorisation back in April. In Estonia, once one of the most popular hubs for issuing crypto licences, only one MiCA-licensed service provider is so far registered under the new system.
This contrast matters for Baltic and Nordic users. While global players are still fighting for authorisation, several local and regional platforms already meet the new requirements, including the segregation of client funds and transparency reporting.
Latvijas Banka issues two new MiCA licences
The most striking regional development came from Latvia. On 25 June the supervision committee of Latvijas Banka issued a crypto-asset service provider licence to two companies, Hodleris SIA and Bleap SIA, which was announced on 26 June. Both companies received their licences in line with MiCA requirements and can provide services across the European Union through the cross-border notification mechanism.
The Hodleris SIA authorisation covers a broad range of services: custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, exchange for funds, exchange for other crypto-assets, and transfer services on behalf of clients. The Bleap SIA licence is narrower and covers the exchange of crypto-assets for funds and for other crypto-assets.
With these two authorisations, Latvijas Banka has now issued crypto-asset service provider licences to nine companies since MiCA took effect. This strengthens Latvia's position as one of the most active MiCA licensing hubs in the Baltics and shows that the local regulator can make decisions even in the days right before the deadline.
Bitcoin near 59,000 dollars, record outflow from ETFs
In the broader market, 26 June brought continued pressure. Bitcoin traded around 59,000 dollars, well below the record set in the spring and about two thousand three hundred dollars lower than the previous morning. Market capitalisation held near 1.3 trillion dollars.
The main source of pressure remained US exchange-traded Bitcoin funds. On 26 June they recorded a seventh consecutive day of net outflows, totalling roughly four hundred forty-four million dollars and concentrated entirely in BlackRock's IBIT fund. It was one of the largest single-day redemptions for that fund since its launch. In total, several billion dollars flowed out of Bitcoin funds over the four weeks of June.
Market sentiment was further shaped by signals from the US Federal Reserve. Following its latest comments, part of the market pushed expected interest-rate cuts to a later date, which raises the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin. Although the price decline and the regulatory deadline fell in the same week, the two events are largely unrelated: MiCA determines which platforms may operate in Europe, while Bitcoin's price is set by global capital flows and macroeconomic factors.
What to watch in the coming days
In the final days before 1 July, three questions will matter most: whether and where Binance secures a new licence, what the region's regulators decide in their final rulings, and how durable the market's stabilisation proves after the sharp drop. Investors using Baltic or Nordic crypto exchanges are still advised to verify their operator's licence status in the official regulator registers before the new regulatory phase begins.
