Binance founder CZ says MiCA application was 'fully compliant' and near approval before political forces intervened

Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said the exchange's MiCA license application in Greece was fully compliant and on the verge of approval before unspecified political forces intervened, leading to last week's withdrawal, he said during the inaugural episode of The Block's new daily show, The Starting Block, hosted by head of multimedia Gareth Jenkinson.

"There were two countries in the EU that wanted the Binance application," CZ said. "Because of that, there was actually a bit of a back and forth and a fight over it. A bidding war of some kind. But unfortunately, there were other forces that were against it."

Binance’s MiCA withdrawal

There has been speculation that ECB President Christine Lagarde played a role in blocking the application, a claim Jenkinson also attributed to an anonymous source.

CZ did not confirm or deny the allegation directly, saying he had seen "the same information online" but had no direct documents to point to, and that he had not heard of any verified documents from Binance either.

Binance officially withdrew its Greek MiCA application last week and said it would pursue authorization in another EU member state, with co-CEO Richard Teng stating the company remains committed to securing a license "in the coming months."

The July 1 deadline — after which unlicensed firms must cease EU operations — arrives Tuesday. Spain's securities regulator has said there will be no exceptions or extensions, The Block reported.

CZ framed the outcome as a loss for both sides. "I think overall the current situation, sadly, is a loss for Binance; it's also a loss for Europe," he said. "It's a lose-lose situation."

He drew a parallel to Japan, where Binance faced regulatory warnings as early as 2018 before ultimately securing a full license from the JFSA in early 2023, and to Singapore, where Binance had to withdraw in 2021 before users migrated to FTX — "and we know how that ended," he said.

CZ on STRC: 'I don't think I understand it fully'

CZ also offered a candid assessment of Strategy's STRC preferred stock, which has traded as much as 26% below its $100 par value in recent weeks as Bitcoin's price pulled back.

Strategy announced a Digital Credit Capital Framework on Monday, raising STRC's dividend rate to 12% and establishing a $1 billion repurchase program in an effort to close the discount gap, The Block reported

"I took multiple attempts trying to understand STRC," CZ said. "I just don't think I understand it fully. I think many of these financial products are generally too complex — they're over-engineered."

He said the product's reliance on Bitcoin as underlying collateral introduces a structural tension: Bitcoin's long-term appreciation thesis may be sound, but its volatility makes it a challenging base for leveraged instruments.

CZ was careful to separate his doubts about the product's complexity from any judgment of, or assumptions about, Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor's intentions.

"Michael is not some guy who's just going to go out there and make a fake, scammy product," he said. "He's a reputable guy; he is a Bitcoin die-hard."

He added that Saylor once spent 15 minutes explaining STRC to him backstage at a conference. "I nodded my head a lot," CZ said, "but I still don't really understand."

Prison and X Money

CZ also disclosed that he has donated $2 million to Prison Professors, a nonprofit run by Michael Santos — one of his prison consultants — following his four-month federal sentence, through four payments of $500,000 each since his release.

Santos, who served 26 years for a first-time drug trafficking offense, runs the organization to prepare incarcerated people for reentry through education. CZ said he kept the donations private until Santos asked to make them public two weeks ago, hoping the disclosure would encourage other inmates.

On the sidelines of the interview, CZ confirmed he invested approximately $500 million in Elon Musk's Twitter takeover for roughly 1% of equity, saying he wanted to support what he saw as an important platform for freedom of speech.

He said he messaged Musk on X when the company was launching X Money, asking if Binance could be a partner. Musk replied that X Money was staying away from crypto for now, CZ said, though he added he hopes X eventually becomes a global payments platform, comparing the opportunity to what Starlink achieved in internet access.