In brief
- Spain's securities regulator said there will be no extension to the EU's July 1 MiCA licensing deadline for crypto firms.
- Binance, still unlicensed after withdrawing its application in Greece, may have to temporarily halt EU operations.
- Regulators are working with unlicensed firms to ensure customer assets can be transferred if needed.
Spain’s top securities regulator said Friday the country will not extend a fast-approaching deadline for crypto firms to register under new regulations—even as Binance struggles to do so.
Under the European Union’s newly implemented MiCA crypto framework, firms have until July 1 to register with a member country and remain operational. If they fail to register by next week, then they will be obligated to cease doing business. European customers will not be able complete transactions with unauthorized crypto service providers after next week.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, had sought to register under MiCA with Greece. But following a report that the country was unlikely to grant approval, Binance said this week that it withdrew its application from Greece. It is now seeking to register in another EU member state, but is likely to be forced to wind down operations in Europe, at least temporarily, when the clock runs out next Wednesday.
On Friday, Carlos San Basilio, the chairman of Spain’s National Securities Market Commission, said “there will be no exceptions or extensions” to the July 1 deadline, according to a report from Reuters.
San Basilio expressed concern about major crypto platforms like Binance, which are poised to shut down in days due to a lack of MiCA compliance.
"What we are concerned about… is how this period—the end of the transitional period—will unfold, and how the adaptation to the new environment will take place,” he said.
The regulator added he and others are in contact with major crypto companies that have not yet secured licenses, to ensure they have plans in place to transfer client assets to other providers and ensure investor rights.
Once a crypto firm registers in an EU country, it is able to “passport” its license to other jurisdictions. EU member states boast a wide range of approaches to financial regulation, from more hands-off jurisdictions like Cyprus and Malta to notoriously rigorous regimes like France and Germany.
While every EU nation may process applications in its own way, however, all will be enforcing the same broader set of crypto-related rules.