Binance Records Decrease in Euro-Denominated Crypto Trading Proportion

Key Insights

• Binance’s share of euro-denominated cryptocurrency trading drops to 15% from over 30% in January.
• Regulatory pressure and the collapse of FTX contribute to Binance’s challenges in the European market.
• Binance focuses on meeting new EU legislation requirements and experiences a decline in global spot trading market share.

Binance’s share of euro-denominated cryptocurrency trading has fallen to 15%, while at the beginning of the year it exceeded 30%.

Against the backdrop of the collapse of FTX, the largest crypto exchange faced problems in working in Europe: the French prosecutor’s office recently raided the company’s Paris office, and the Belgian regulator demanded that Binance leave the local market. The platform also announced its exit from the Dutch market.

Binance’s Struggles in the European Market

The presence of the Binance crypto exchange in the European market has halved in six months and may decrease even more due to the tightening of requirements by local regulators amid the collapse of the FTX exchange, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to market research firm Kaiko, Binance’s share of euro-denominated cryptocurrency trading has dropped to 15%, down from over 30% in January.

As a result, Vietnam, Turkey, India, and Argentina currently have the highest user traffic on Binance, according to data from analytics company SimilarWeb.

In May 2022, Binance opened its first regional headquarters in Paris after spending over a year and a half to register in France. French prosecutors recently raided the exchange’s office as part of an investigation into a lack of money laundering controls and illegal service offerings.

A Binance spokesperson confirmed the prosecutor’s visit, but declined to comment on “the specifics of law enforcement or regulatory investigations.”

Earlier in June, the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority demanded that Binance stop offering services in the country, noting that the exchange does so using companies outside the European Economic Area, which is prohibited.

A little earlier, Binance announced its withdrawal from the Dutch market, as it was unable to register.

The German regulator has not yet issued a license to the exchange for the storage of cryptocurrencies.

In April 2023, MEPs approved a bill regulating Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) cryptocurrencies. The new rules should come into effect in 2024. They allow cryptocurrency companies authorized in one member state to offer services in all countries of the block.

But they have a provision that allows countries to ban cryptocurrency business if regulators see it as a risk to users, Chainalysis spokesman Trenton Kennedy said. A Binance spokesperson stated that the company is already focused on meeting the requirements of the new EU legislation.

The WSJ recalls that in the United States, a lawsuit against Binance was filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which noted that the crypto exchange ignored US securities laws. According to CCData, Binance is still the largest crypto platform, but its share of the global spot trading market has fallen from 57% in February to 42% in June.

Will Binance’s decreasing presence in the European market and regulatory challenges affect the global landscape of cryptocurrency trading? Share your thoughts and predictions in the comments.