The president of Spain’s National Securities Market Commission has reportedly said that until July 1, there will be no extensions or exemptions for cryptocurrency companies that have not received approval to operate in European Union member states under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.
Chairman Carlos San Basilio, according to a Reuters report on Friday he said that “there will be no exceptions or extensions” to the July 1 MiCA deadline, referring to Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges affected by the framework. Binance’s operations in the EU are expected to be restricted after it withdrew its application to the Greek Capital Market Commission and had not received approval from any other authority as of Friday.
“However, we are concerned about how this period – the end of the transition period – will unfold and how the adaptation to the new environment will proceed, which is why we are in contact with organizations that have not obtained a license,” Basilio said, according to Reuters.
If Binance does not receive approval from the financial regulator in the next few days, the exchange will be obliged to stop onboarding recent EU users and restrict certain services for EU accounts from July 1. Other cryptocurrency exchanges have gained last-minute approvals under MiCA, but Binance, with millions of users in the EU, could have a much greater impact on the region’s cryptocurrency market.
Related: Binance’s fight with MiCA raises questions about the ECB’s influence
“This is Binance’s philosophy of doing business” he said OKX Founder and CEO Mingxing Xu in response to former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s comments on the EU exchange deadline. “They ignore laws and regulations, misleading the public with nonsense. According to public media reports and court documents, the platform’s so-called ‘prime liquidity’ included trading activities with risks of money laundering, sanctions violations and market manipulation.”
Cointelegraph reached out to a Binance spokesperson who commented on the company’s statement on Wednesday.
Binance users looking for other exchanges?
As the cryptocurrency exchange is expected to end some operations for EU users, some are reporting leaving Binance altogether with no definitive timetable for its return.
Some Reddit users he said that they were considering purchasing Kraken as a source of their funds. Payward, trading as Kraken, is licensed as a cryptographic services provider by the Central Bank of Ireland.
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