Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,
The EU's MiCA regulation has helped provide regulatory clarity to companies provisioning crypto solutions into Europe's single market. However, the July 1st deadline for companies to obtain a MiCA licence has had important ramifications for the world's largest exchange by trading volume — Binance.
Binance failed to secure a MiCA licence by the deadline. Without the licence firms cannot passport across all 27 EU member states, and unlicensed firms must wind down their operations. But it's wrong to say their application was rejected. They withdrew the application on 24th June after reports the Greek regulator was set to reject it.
The Financial Times reported that in an effort to win favour with the Greek authorities the company offered to hire local staff and invest billions of euros in the country. Yet judicial investigations in France, and the fact that Binance is banned from operating in the UK, did not make the case for a licence easy.
Additionally, the "fit-and-proper" test applies to shareholders with a qualifying holding of 10% or more. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, often known as just CZ, owns roughly 90% of the company and served four months in a US prison for failing to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering programme, before being pardoned by President Trump. There have been reports that the ECB would rather not have Binance operating in the EU, and that the Greek Prime Minister had reportedly been made aware of this.
The company plans to seek a MiCA licence in France in the coming months. In the meantime users can no longer place new trades — though their funds remain accessible and can still be withdrawn — leaving them in a kind of limbo that competitors will be looking to exploit. MiCA compliance is now a moat. Unless you get the licence you can't enter the arena — no matter how big you are.
Sources:
Financial Times — Binance to stop providing services to EU clients after failing to obtain licence
CoinDesk — Binance tells EU users it will no longer provide services after failing to secure MiCA license
Euronews — Binance to halt crypto services across EU countries after failing to secure MiCA approval
CoinPaprika — Binance Pulls Back From EU Services as MiCA Deadline Hits
crypto.news — Binance is locked out of Europe on July 1. Here is what actually happened
Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below!
Matt Jones
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Funding and Investments 💸
Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.
Funding and Investments 💸
Airwallex raised $320 million in Series H funding — valuing the company at $11 billion — led by Addition with participation from Baillie Gifford, Hummingbird, QED Investors, T. Rowe Price, Hedosophia, Haun Ventures, Washington University in St. Louis and Amex Ventures
Taktile raised a $110 million Series C led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives
Allium raised a $40 million Series B led by Amplify Partner with Kleiner Perkins and Theory Ventures also participating
equipal secured £16.25 million in combined equity and forward-flow funding from Altum Capital Management
On-chain finance startup Ground emerged from stealth with a $3.6 million pre-seed round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and ParaFi, with additional funding from Nascent, Robot Ventures, Chapter One, and Consonant Ventures
Banking 🏛️
🇬🇧 Lloyds Bank is hiring 300 agentic AI specialists in the UK
🇪🇺 Ireland’s AIB launched a new mobile banking app as part of its wider digital transformation programme
🇪🇺 French green neobank Green-Got shattered Crowdcube records with its crowdfunding campaign
🇪🇺 Austrian banks are joined the rollout of Wero
🇪🇺 Revolut refunded Irish customers after a large-scale ATM glitch
🇦🇱 Albania’s first fully digital bank, Jet Bank, officially launched
Digital Assets ₿
🇬🇧 The Bank of England softened its approach to stablecoin holding limits after industry pushback.
🇪🇺 The digital euro cleared a key European Parliament hurdle
🌍 Binance faces disruption in the EU after failing to secure a MiCA licence before the deadline
🌍 The Ethereum Foundation cut 20% of its staff amid a wider shake-up.
🌍 Kraken is reportedly in talks to buy a 15% stake in DeFi lender Aave at a $385 million valuation.
🌍 Crypto media and data company Blockworks acquired Messari
🌍 The BIS warned that stablecoins carry structural flaws
Payments 💰
🇬🇧 Worldpay suffered an outage during the England vs Ghana World Cup game.
🇪🇺 Worldline launched recurring payments via Click to Pay
🇪🇺 Currenxie was granted SEPA participant status by the European Payments Council.
🌍 Marshmallow, Percayso Inform and TransUnion formed a strategic data partnership to improve pricing and risk decisioning.
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