First Four Greek Institutions Granted MiCA Authorization; HCMC Denies Lagarde's Interference in Binance's Application

According to Cointelegraph, Greece has been added to the EU's MiCA registry for the first time, with BCash, Xenios Blockchain Group, Capital Wallet Greece, and Piraeus Bank receiving authorization. The total number of registrations under ESMA now reaches 359. Among them, the first three are supervised by the HCMC, while Piraeus Bank is regulated by the Bank of Greece, demonstrating Greece's dual-track regulatory framework for MiCA. Previously, Binance applied for MiCA authorization in Greece. If approved, it could have leveraged the passporting system to offer services across Europe, but it voluntarily withdrew the application on June 24. On September 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that ECB President Lagarde had intervened, asking the Greek prime minister to prevent the application's approval. The HCMC explicitly denied this to Cointelegraph, stating that no officials had communicated with ECB staff regarding Binance's application, and that the report's claims were entirely untrue. Both Binance and the ECB declined to comment.