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Crypto exchanges 27.06: three days to MiCA

Saturday before the MiCA deadline: three days left until 1 July. Binance continues its retreat from the EU, while Firi, Coinmotion, Safello and Coingate stay legal and Latvijas Banka has already issued nine MiCA licences. Bitcoin near 60,700 dollars after the second-largest weekly outflow from US funds.

Toms Ābeltiņš

28 June 20266 min read

Saturday 27 June: three days until the MiCA deadline. Binance keeps leaving the EU market, while regional exchanges Firi, Coinmotion, Safello and Coingate stay legal and Latvijas Banka has issued nine CASP licences. Bitcoin near 60,700 dollars after the second-largest ETF outflow week.

Saturday, 27 June 2026, the crypto market spent another day in countdown mode. With only three days left until the end of the European Union's MiCA transition period on 1 July, the key question for users in the Baltics and the Nordics stayed the same: will the exchange they use still be legal after the deadline. Over the weekend, the world's largest crypto exchange Binance continued its retreat from the European market, while regional providers holding valid licences prepared to take over the space being vacated. Bitcoin traded near 60,700 dollars after a nervous week in which US-listed funds recorded their second-largest outflow since launch.

Three days until the MiCA deadline

The MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation requires that, from 1 July, every crypto-asset service provider in the European Union and the European Economic Area must hold a formal CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) licence in at least one member state. The transition period allowed companies that operated under national rules before 30 December 2024 to keep working until the deadline, or until their authorisation was granted or refused.

Data from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) shows that around 250 companies have obtained full CASP authorisation, fewer than one in five of the more than 1,200 providers that previously operated in the EU under national registrations. Industry estimates still warn that up to 80 percent of currently active platforms will reach the deadline without a licence and will be forced to leave the European market. Saturday was one of the final days on which undecided users could put their accounts in order.

What it means for Baltic and Nordic users

The Baltic and Nordic region is one of the highest-density crypto markets in Europe, so the outcome of the licensing round will directly affect thousands of users in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. In practice, after 1 July unlicensed platforms will no longer be able to offer new trades, deposits or additional services to EU residents, although withdrawals usually remain available during the transition.

Regulators across the region are urging users to check in advance whether the exchange they use is included in the official CASP register. Latvijas Banka, the Bank of Lithuania, Finland's Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) and ESMA maintain public lists where the status of each provider can be verified. The warning is unambiguous: after the deadline, using an unlicensed platform means transacting outside the EU's legal framework, without consumer protection mechanisms.

Binance continues its retreat from the EU

The weekend passed with Binance's gradual exit from the European market continuing. In the preceding days, the company had begun directly notifying customers in France, Italy, Poland and Spain that it would suspend most services from 1 July, having failed to obtain a MiCA licence in time. On 24 June, Binance officially withdrew its MiCA application in Greece, citing slow processing and the absence of a formal decision, and now names France as its next possible licensing home.

The company stresses that customer funds remain safe and available for withdrawal, and reaffirms its intention to return to Europe within the coming months with a full licence. For Baltic and Nordic users of Binance, this means that alternatives should be planned in the coming days, either a switch to a regionally licensed exchange or moving funds to a self-custody wallet.

The regional exchanges that stay legal

In contrast to the uncertainty around the large global platforms, several regional exchanges have already secured their place beyond the deadline. Norway's Firi, Finland's Coinmotion, Sweden's Safello and Lithuania's Coingate operate with the appropriate authorisations and will continue to serve Nordic and Baltic customers after 1 July. Lithuania has become one of the region's leading MiCA homes, with the Bank of Lithuania serving as the main supervisory gateway for companies such as Revolut, while Robinhood chose Lithuania as the base for its European crypto operations.

In recent months, Latvia has rapidly established itself as a serious regional licensing hub. By the end of the week, Latvijas Banka had issued nine full MiCA CASP licences, including to the companies Hodleris and Bleap. The Ministry of Economics positions Latvia as a gateway to the EU fintech market, and the circle of licensed companies keeps expanding.

The Estonian paradox

The most striking case in the region is Estonia. Until recently, Estonia was considered the undisputed capital of EU crypto licensing thanks to the old VASP system, but the MiCA transition has sharply reversed that picture. Because old VASP permits do not convert automatically into MiCA licences, the number of authorised CASPs in Estonia has fallen to just a handful. It illustrates a broader trend: a historical volume of registrations does not guarantee a successful transition to the new, stricter regime, and every company must earn its licence anew.

The market backdrop over the weekend

Against the regulatory backdrop, the crypto market stayed cautious on Saturday. Bitcoin traded near 60,700 dollars, recovering after a mid-week drop to about 58,100 dollars. That is still more than half below the October 2025 record above 126,000 dollars.

The pressure was reinforced by outflows from US-listed Bitcoin funds. In the week ending 26 June, these funds recorded about 1.79 billion dollars in net outflows, the second-largest weekly figure since they launched in January 2024. BlackRock's IBIT fund alone lost around 445 million dollars on Friday, extending its daily outflow streak to seven sessions in a row. This capital outflow reflects caution among institutional investors, coinciding with a period of regulatory uncertainty in Europe.

What users should do before 1 July

In the remaining days before the deadline, regional users would do well to make a few simple checks. First, confirm whether the exchange they use is in the official CASP register or has at least publicly announced a licence in an EU member state. Second, pay attention to platform notices about service changes after 1 July. Third, if an exchange is leaving the EU market, plan in good time to move funds to a licensed provider or a self-custody wallet, rather than leaving it to the last moment.

MiCA's aim is to introduce uniform rules and stronger consumer protection across the EU, but the transition phase creates some short-term uncertainty. For the Baltic and Nordic region, where several licensed regional exchanges already operate, this transition may prove less painful than elsewhere in Europe.

Norriwire Briefing