Binance EU withdrawals reveal MiCA regulation impact

The post Binance Co-CEO Questions MiCA After EU User Withdrawals appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Most European users who withdrew assets from Binance after its EU service suspension chose self-custody instead of regulated exchanges. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said roughly 70% of withdrawals moved into private wallets, while only 30% reached MiCA-licensed trading platforms.  The trend suggests many users prioritized direct control over their digital assets despite the European Union’s push for stronger oversight under its Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. Consequently, the migration has renewed debate about whether tighter regulations can achieve their intended consumer protection goals. Teng Questions MiCA’s Practical Impact Teng argued that funds held in self-custodied wallets no longer remain within regulated compliance systems. Consequently, authorities lose visibility through anti-money laundering and know-your-customer monitoring that licensed exchanges provide.  Binance h

The post EURC On-Chain Activity Hits All-Time High As MiCA Drives Euro Stablecoin Demand appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Circle’s EURC stablecoin just printed its busiest day on-chain in the asset’s four-year history. Both daily active addresses and new wallet creation exploded to record levels, according to the on-chain update from Santiment. The sudden burst of usage is not noise. It aligns with a structural shift as European exchanges, apps, and payment teams hunt for compliant alternatives under the continent’s new crypto rulebook. A Sudden Spike in Euro Coin Usage Active addresses and network growth are two of the bluntest tools for measuring real adoption. A simultaneous surge in both suggests fresh capital and new participants—not just existing holders shuffling tokens. EURC’s daily active addresses vaulted to an all-time high, and the number of new wallets entering the network did the same. That dual breakout rarely happens by accident. The timing is critical. For years, d

The post AscendEX shuts down after MiCA miss and warns some withdrawals may not be processed appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. AscendEX shut down on July 1, leaving some customers unsure whether they will recover their funds. The exchange said in a July 6 notice that it does not hold authorization under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. It also cited financial and operational pressures, including a failed strategic transaction expected to provide liquidity. Customers can no longer use AscendEX to open accounts, deposit funds, trade, swap, stake or lend. They should retain access only to withdraw assets and complete other exit steps, provided the platform remains available, and no legal or insolvency restrictions intervene. Related Reading Millions of EU crypto users face exchange cutoff as MiCA deadline hits in days Around three in four of the crypto companies registered across Europe are expected to lose their license this summer in the most aggressive thinni

The post Hong Kong gives crypto platforms one year to ditch one-time passwords or cover user losses appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Hong Kong crypto platforms have until July 8, 2027, to ditch one-time passwords for client logins and device registration under new security rules. By then, licensed virtual asset service providers and internet brokers must use authentication that can resist phishing for client logins and the registration or binding of devices, according to a July 9 circular. The regulator said one-time passwords, or OTPs, do not meet that standard and should not be used for those two processes. The rule applies only when clients log in or link a new device, leaving other OTP uses unchanged. Firms do not have to make existing clients rebind devices that are already linked. Large internet brokers are expected to deploy the stronger methods immediately, while the broader group has a 12-month implementation period. Related Reading Hong Kong approves 4 new crypto trading

The post European Blockchain Convention Returns to Barcelona for Europe’s First Post-MiCA Gathering appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Barcelona, Spain,  July,  2026 — Eleven weeks after the European Union’s MiCA deadline, the 12th edition of the European Blockchain Convention (EBC12) returns to Barcelona at a pivotal moment for the industry. It is the region’s first major institutional gathering since the world’s first comprehensive cross-border digital asset regulation became fully law, and the event where European deal flow happens. MiCA is now fully in force. For European markets, the focus shifts to what comes next: CASP licensing, stablecoin issuance, and the role of CBDCs in cross-border settlement. EBC12 is where that conversation takes place. Rather than chasing mandates city by city across London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, and Barcelona, EBC12 compresses the European digital asset market into a single two-day commercial arena. It takes place on 16–17 September 2026 at the P

The post Crypto Biz: USDT vs USDC Roles Diverge as Euro Stablecoins Grow Under MiCA appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Crypto’s infrastructure is starting to look a lot more like traditional finance. New data from Dune shows that the world’s stablecoin leaders — Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC — are no longer competing for the same users, with each now dominating a different corner of the market. Meanwhile, demand for MiCA-compliant euro stablecoins is accelerating, hinting that the stablecoin economy is slowly expanding beyond the US dollar. Elsewhere in Crypto Biz, Strategy reignited debate over its “never sell” philosophy after offloading more than $200 million in Bitcoin (BTC) to fund shareholder dividends, while Vanguard signaled that even Wall Street’s biggest crypto skeptics are embracing tokenization. USDT, USDC use cases diverge as stablecoins become chain-specific USDT has become crypto’s dominant payments stablecoin while USDC has cemented itself as DeFi’s preferred settle

The post Europe’s Crypto Law Is Driving Users Away From Regulation, Not Toward It appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. 70% of EU users who left Binance after MiCA opted for self-custody, not a rival. Teng warned self-hosted wallets amplify risk as AML and KYC controls are absent. Binance pulled its Greek MiCA licence and paused EU deposits on 1 July 2026. Europe’s landmark crypto regulation is producing an outcome its architects did not intend. Rather than driving users toward regulated platforms, MiCA appears to be pushing them in the opposite direction. Binance CEO Richard Teng revealed that of the users who withdrew funds from Binance after MiCA came into effect, 70% moved their assets into self-hosted wallets, while only 30% shifted to other regulated platforms. The data suggests the regulation is consolidating crypto activity outside the supervised financial system rather than within it. “Once it goes into a self-hosted wallet, the risks actually amplify,” Teng said. “You don’t ha

The post MiCA Approval Is Not the Finish Line for Crypto Custodians appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Getting licensed under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework is only the beginning for crypto custodians, as regulators turn their attention from authorization to operational resilience. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Wednesday launched a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) to examine the operational resilience of crypto asset service providers (CASPs), placing custody services at the center of the review. “The signal is quite clear: for custodians, a licence is the start line, not the finish,” Sebastien Dessimoz, co-founder and managing partner at digital asset infrastructure firm Taurus, told Cointelegraph. The review comes shortly after MiCA’s transitional period expired, marking one of the first major supervisory exercises under the EU’s new crypto framework. From claiming security to proving it The ESMA told Cointelegraph