Binance is shutting accounts in four European countries — and the clock is already ticking
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, will close customer accounts in France, Italy, Spain and Poland on 31 December 2026. The Binance EU account closures follow the exchange’s failure to secure authorisation under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, and a Binance spokesperson has confirmed the year-end date to CoinDesk. Users in the four countries have already started receiving withdrawal notices telling them to move their funds.
Deposits are already blocked for the affected accounts, but withdrawals — in crypto and in fiat — remain open for now. Binance describes the process as an orderly wind-down rather than a sudden freeze. Even so, the timetable is tight: anyone who leaves cryptocurrency on the platform faces a new monthly charge from 29 November, a full month before the accounts actually close.
The 29 November fee that punishes late withdrawals
The most urgent date in the Binance EU account closures is not 31 December — it is 29 November. From that day, any cryptocurrency left in an affected account will be charged a monthly maintenance fee of 0.025% of the remaining balance, or 10 USDC, whichever is higher. The first deduction is scheduled within three days of 29 November, and a second follows after 24 December — so an account still holding crypto on the 29th is charged twice before it closes.
The 10 USDC minimum is what makes the fee so punishing for smaller balances. On a balance of 1,000 USDC, the percentage calculation produces just 0.25 USDC — but the customer would still owe 10 USDC. A balance of 100 USDC would lose 10% in a single charge, and balances below 10 USDC could be wiped out entirely. Customers who withdraw their entire cryptocurrency balance before 29 November avoid the new fee, although ordinary withdrawal or network charges may still apply.
The notices also warn that assets left behind after 31 December may be treated as inactive and could be converted, transferred or otherwise handled under Binance’s terms. The precise treatment of residual assets has not been publicly detailed, which is one more reason not to leave anything to chance.
Why MiCA is forcing the closures
The Binance EU account closures are the end of a process that began on 1 July 2026, when the MiCA transitional period ended. From that date, crypto exchanges and other crypto-asset service providers needed authorisation in an EU member state to keep offering regulated services across the bloc. Binance has not secured that authorisation.
On 1 July itself, Binance restricted new registrations, deposits and selected products in six EU markets — France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Belgium and Sweden. The closure notices now reaching customers cover the first four of those countries, where Binance previously ran locally registered businesses. France’s financial regulator, the AMF, recorded the automatic expiry of Binance France’s earlier national registration on 2 July, just a day after the transition ended.
Binance withdrew its MiCA application in Greece in June and said it would seek approval in another EU member state. It has not named that country, and it does not appear on the European Securities and Markets Authority’s register of authorised crypto providers. Authorisation from a single member state can unlock regulated services across the whole bloc through passporting — but until Binance wins one, the restrictions can only tighten, and the list of countries facing service cuts could grow.
The licensing gap has also drawn regulatory scrutiny of Binance’s use of reverse solicitation, a narrow exemption that allows certain services only when customers independently approach a provider. For now, the exchange says it is progressing toward European authorisation — but it has given no timeline.
What it means for crypto users in Pakistan
Pakistani users are not directly affected by the Binance EU account closures: the notices target accounts held with Binance’s former local entities in the four named countries, not accounts served through other Binance entities. But the episode still matters here, because Binance is the exchange most Pakistani crypto users know best — and it is a reminder of how quickly access to funds can change when regulation moves.
The lesson is a practical one. Money left sitting on any exchange is money under someone else’s rules: a licence decision in another continent can turn into a withdrawal deadline and a monthly fee with only weeks of warning. Keeping only trading funds on an exchange, and moving the rest to a wallet you control, is the safeguard that costs nothing until the day it matters.
Pakistan, meanwhile, is moving in the opposite direction on crypto regulation. The country reversed its 2018 crypto ban with the Virtual Assets Act 2026, and licensed exchanges must now build full anti-money-laundering compliance programmes. The contrast is sharp: while Europe’s new rulebook is pushing the world’s biggest exchange out of four of its markets, Pakistan is writing rules designed to bring crypto activity inside the formal economy. Whether that bet pays off will depend on how the licensing regime works in practice — but for now, the message from Europe is clear enough: withdraw before 29 November, or pay for waiting.
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