European regulators are examining whether Binance has leaned too heavily on MiCA's reverse solicitation exemption to continue serving certain EU customers without a bloc-wide crypto license.

According to people familiar with the inquiries, who spoke to the Financial Times, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and national authorities in France, Germany and Greece are reviewing Binance's use of the exemption, and some regulators have requested information from the exchange. Enforcement action, including fines, could follow if authorities conclude the exemption's conditions were not met.

Binance enters the review without MiCA authorization. The company withdrew its Greek application in June and began restricting services as the EU transition period expired. It subsequently restricted new sign-ups and deposits across France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Belgium and Sweden, while keeping withdrawals available.

Reverse Solicitation Requires the Customer to Initiate

Under MiCA, a third-country company may provide a crypto service without EU authorization only when the customer approaches the company entirely at their own exclusive initiative. Advertising, promotion or solicitation directed at EU customers removes that protection, and contractual language asserting that a relationship was customer-initiated cannot override the actual circumstances. Compliance assessments therefore turn on how each customer relationship actually came about, not on the wording of a platform's user agreements.

The exemption also does not allow a third-country firm to treat a single customer-initiated request as permission to market new crypto assets or additional services to that customer. ESMA's reverse solicitation framework treats the route as a narrow exception to Article 59, which generally requires firms providing crypto services inside the EU to hold MiCA authorization.

Binance FZE's terms explicitly reserve the ability to provide services in other jurisdictions on a reverse solicitation basis. The entity is regulated in Dubai by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, but that authorization does not create MiCA passporting rights inside the EU.

Binance Continues Pursuing MiCA Authorization

Binance remains without an EU-wide CASP license following its MiCA setback. After withdrawing from Greece, the company said it would pursue authorization in another member state and maintain its long-term European presence. A MiCA license in a single member state would confer passporting rights across the bloc — the authorization Binance has so far lacked.

The scrutiny arrives as EU regulators shift from MiCA implementation toward tighter supervision. ESMA is separately seeking a broader MiCA framework covering DeFi access providers, staking and lending, along with additional enforcement tools against unauthorized third-country firms — the category Binance falls into while it remains unlicensed.

Binance has said it complies with applicable regulatory requirements and is actively working toward MiCA authorization. As of October 1, no public enforcement decision against the exchange over reverse solicitation had been announced. Key developments to watch include any escalation from information requests to formal enforcement, and the member state Binance selects for its renewed authorization application.