Did Binance just lose 450 million EU users?

Binance just lost the EU. Bitcoin bounced from $58K but derivatives aren't impressed. And Strategy's STRC clock is ticking. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ SPONSORED BY Friday, June 26, 2026 Policy Binance tells EU users it will no longer provide services after failing to secure MiCA license Binance has notified users across France, Italy, Poland, and Spain that it will suspend services from July 1 after withdrawing its MiCA license application in Greece on June 24 — four days before the EU's hard deadline. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission never issued a formal decision on the application, submitted in January 2026 through a local holding company, and Greek regulators had raised concerns about Binance's AML controls and whether former CEO Changpeng Zhao could pass MiCA's "fit and proper" test. MiCA requires a single license from any EU member state to passport services across all 27 — without one, Binance cannot legally serve EU users. The exchange has told users their assets remain safe and accessible, and new registrations in the bloc have been halted. Binance plans to seek authorization through France instead, though any approval is likely weeks or months away. Only around 194 firms have successfully obtained MiCA licenses as of mid-2026, underscoring how many exchanges are scrambling. "Our ambitions in Europe remain the same, and we are confident we will secure a MiCA licence in the coming months," Binance said in a statement. Read more → A message from Fidelity Careers Drive your crypto career forward at Fidelity It's an exciting time to be working in crypto, and Fidelity provides the resources and platform you need to truly grow and scale your impact. At Fidelity, we've been building our digital assets ecosystem since 2014 with the same rigor and long-term commitment as our traditional asset classes. Our builders work with a unique "scan, try, scale" approach, giving you the experimental nature of a startup backed by the reach and depth of a large institution. This is how we turn groundbreaking ideas into reality. Whether your background is in UX, product management, tech, or operations, we want your help to discover what's next. Let's turn the promise of digital assets into a reality, together. Learn more about crypto careers at Fidelity Markets Bitcoin bounces from $58,000 as derivatives signal more pain in the pipeline Bitcoin touched $58,100 Thursday — its lowest level since September 2024 — before rebounding to around $59,700 Friday as the crypto market clings to a crucial support level to close out the first half. The bounce is fragile: derivatives data show rising stress across the board, with futures open interest jumping as traders add shorts, implied volatility and put skew climbing, and over $1 billion in leveraged positions — mostly longs — liquidated in 24 hours. ETH failed to mirror the bounce, dropping a further 1% and extending its losing streak to three straight days. Today's session is being heavily shaped by the largest quarterly options expiry of 2026: $10.6 billion in bitcoin options on Deribit expired Friday morning, with 80% of open interest underwater and bitcoin trading roughly $11,000 below the $72,000 max pain level — the sharpest sign yet that the institutional hedging playbook has been rewritten by ETF outflows. Deutsche Bank now forecasts two Fed rate hikes in 2026, reinforcing the liquidity contraction that has made yield-free assets structurally less attractive. Bitcoin is down 32% in H1 2026 — its worst first half since 2018. Read more → Markets All eyes on Strategy's June 30 ex-dividend date and monthly STRC dividend rate reset Strategy's STRC preferred stock is trading around $73 — roughly 27% below its $100 par value — as investors focus on two events tied to June 30. The ex-dividend date lands Monday, with eligible holders receiving a $0.48 per share payment on July 15. But at less than 0.7% of the stock price, that's unlikely to move the needle on its own. The bigger watch item is the monthly dividend rate reset: with STRC's effective yield now near 15% and the stock persistently below par, investors widely expect Strategy to raise the rate from 11.50% to at least 12% or 12.50% to pull shares back toward $100. Strategy has held the rate flat at 11.50% for four consecutive months — a streak that has coincided with STRC trading as low as $64 earlier this month. The reset mechanism matters because maintaining STRC near par is critical to Strategy's ability to issue shares through its ATM program and raise capital for bitcoin purchases. With bitcoin itself down 32% year-to-date and MSTR down 43%, pressure on the STRC yield reset is the most immediate lever the company has to stabilize its preferred stock — and signal to the market that the capital structure remains functional. Read more → Know someone who should be reading this? Share this newsletter See all of CoinDesk’s newsletters    CoinDesk, Inc., 61 9th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York,NY,10011,USA, Unsubscribe Manage Preferences   Copyright © 2026 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.