Binance sets December 31 closure for users in four EU states

Binance has told customers in France, Spain, Italy and Poland to take their money off the exchange. Accounts in the four countries close on December 31, 2026. A monthly fee starts on November 29 for anyone who leaves a balance behind.

Notices went to users by email. CoinDesk reported them on November 7 after reviewing the messages, and FinanceFeeds confirmed the terms a day later through a Binance spokesperson. Binance called the wind-down "a carefully managed process" with "no sudden freeze." It has not said how many accounts are affected.

What the fee is and when it starts

Binance will take a small cut each month. From November 29, the charge is 0.025% of whatever crypto sits in an affected account, or 10 USDC, whichever is larger. A first deduction lands within three days of that date. A second follows after December 24, per the customer notices CoinDesk and FinanceFeeds described.

The math favors the floor for most people. On a balance worth $4,000, 0.025% is one dollar a month, so the 10 USDC minimum applies instead. On a bigger balance the percentage takes over. Either way, the charge only touches coins left after November 29.

Payment comes out of USDC first. If an account holds too little USDC, Binance can sell other coins to cover the fee. Balances worth less than the charge are taken in full. Deposits are already shut. Withdrawals of crypto and cash stay open until the account closes.

Empty the account before November 29 and nothing is charged.

Why Binance is pulling back

The cause is a license Binance does not have. The European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets rules, known as MiCA, require an exchange to win authorization in one member state before it can serve customers across the bloc. Binance missed the deadline. A transition period that let firms trade on older national permits ran out on July 1, 2026. No license, no bloc.

Binance had applied in Greece. It pulled that application in late June and said it would seek approval in another member state, without naming which one. France's markets regulator struck Binance France from its register on July 2. Months on, the company sits on no EU list of authorized crypto providers.

This is the second time Binance has pushed these users toward the door. Back in June, as the deadline neared, it urged customers in the same four countries to withdraw and stopped new sign-ups. Spot trading, margin and futures were switched off for them around July 1. What landed this week is the harder step: a fee on anything left, and a firm closing date.

Richard Teng, a Binance co-chief executive, said in June that the firm stayed committed to winning a license. That pledge has not produced one. Binance has not named the country it will apply in next, or given a date.

Users elsewhere in the EU are not clear of this either. Binance had no local entity in Portugal, for instance, so Portuguese customers were not named in the latest notices, yet they still fall under the bloc-wide limits that came with the missed deadline. Binance has not put out a full country-by-country breakdown, which leaves some users guessing where they stand.

What happens to money left behind

Assets still in an account after December 31 move into what Binance calls inactive status. From there they may be converted or transferred under the exchange's terms. Binance says user balances "remain safe and accessible" through the wind-down.

A MiCA license is the thing to look for in a new venue. It means a national regulator in the EU has signed off on the platform, and that the firm can legally serve customers across the bloc. Several large exchanges now hold one. Moving funds to a licensed venue, or to a wallet the user controls, takes the December deadline off the table.

For most people the fix is quick. Send the coins to another exchange that holds a MiCA license, or to a private wallet. A hardware device or a trusted app both work. Anyone unsure how custody works can read our guide to self-custody before moving funds.

One practical step gets missed. Export the trade history first. A closed account is hard to pull records from, and tax authorities in France and other countries expect that paperwork at filing time.

A wider retreat from Europe

This is not Binance's first European exit. The exchange left the Netherlands in 2023 after it could not register there, and has cut back EU entities since. MiCA raised the bar again. It swapped a patchwork of national rules for one regime, and a firm that cannot meet it loses the whole bloc at once.

Rivals took the other path. OKX and Coinbase both secured MiCA authorization and now sell services across the EU. Circle's USDC became the first stablecoin classed as significant under the rules, a sign the framework is bedding in rather than loosening. Binance, the largest exchange by trading volume, sits outside it for now.

What to watch

Watch November 29 first, the day the fee begins. After that, December 31 ends the accounts for good. A bigger question sits behind both dates: where Binance lands a MiCA license, if it does. Until it names a member state and that regulator signs off, its route back into the EU is a claim, not a date.

Bitcoin traded near $75,800 at 07:40 UTC on November 8, 2026, down slightly on the day, according to CoinGecko. These closures are a regulatory story, not a market one. They change where Europeans can trade, not what a coin is worth.