WSJ: Lagarde blocked Binance's planned EU entry

A Wall Street Journal report says European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde intervened to prevent Binance from operating in the European Union. The newspaper reported that Binance was close to entering the bloc before being told it could not proceed. EU law requires local Crypto-Asset Service Providers to hold a MiCA license. Binance does not have one. Binance withdrew its MiCA application in Greece in June. Binance said in June that it was still pursuing MiCA authorization in another EU member state. The Wall Street Journal, citing interviews with officials, reported that Lagarde wanted to keep Binance out of the European Union. The report said she was concerned that Binance would strengthen the dominance of dollar-based stablecoins in Europe instead of encouraging euro-based counterparts. Binance is the world's biggest crypto exchange, and billions of dollars in stablecoins are traded on its platform daily. Binance and its CEO, Chanpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty in 2023 to anti-money-laundering violations and paid a record $4.3 billion fine, according to the article. Lagarde said in 2021 that bitcoin was a highly speculative asset used for money laundering. She has also criticized cryptocurrencies and said central banks would never hold bitcoin. Lagarde has supported central bank digital currencies, which are digital forms of fiat money such as the US dollar or euro. She has described the digital euro as important to Europe's financial autonomy while criticizing privately issued stablecoins. Bitcoin supporters and others in the crypto industry have criticized central bank digital currencies because they believe such currencies could be used to surveil citizens. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning central bank digital currencies when he took office.