Binance's MiCA Complaint Misses the Point

Richard Teng, one of Binance's top executives, said on Reuters NEXT that MiCA is having the opposite of its intended effect.

His argument is based on data collected by Binance after it stopped serving EU customers. Of all the crypto assets withdrawn from the exchange, 70% went to users' personal wallets, while only 30% were transferred to MiCA-licensed platforms.

Teng argues that non-custodial wallets are outside anyone's AML oversight, and points to this as evidence that MiCA has failed.

The problem is that he seems to be missing what MiCA was actually designed to do. Its preamble makes it clear that the regulation applies to businesses. MiCA is not trying to control users, nor does it dictate how they store their crypto. It merely requires commercial companies to operate within a strict regulatory framework - one whose requirements Binance was unable to meet.

So this is hardly a failure of MiCA. If anything, it demonstrates the financial savvy of European crypto users who are turning away from custodial platforms.

And if all you need is to swap one cryptocurrency for another, you do not need a custodial platform in the first place. On rabbit.io, you can send cryptocurrency directly from your own wallet and receive the cryptocurrency of your choice directly into your own wallet.