Binance co-CEO Richard Teng disclosed that 70% of user funds withdrawn from the exchange in the EU region after the July 1 MiCA compliance deadline moved to self-custody wallets, not to rival regulated platforms. The remaining 30% transferred to MiCA-compliant entities.
Teng made the disclosure at Reuters NEXT Asia on July 9, offering a breakdown of capital flows following Europe's Markets in Crypto Regulation deadline. The figures are Binance's internal, unaudited data but represent the company's direct count of departing user behavior across its EU-region operations.
The split suggests that after Binance's exit from its EU intermediary role, most departing users prioritized non-custodial control of their assets rather than consolidating at competing regulated exchanges. Teng's framing implied that the regulatory measure to remove unauthorized intermediaries achieved partial success: Binance departed the supervised market, but the majority of displaced capital moved outside the regulated ecosystem entirely.
MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto Regulation regime, required crypto service providers operating in the bloc to obtain authorization by July 1 or cease operations. Binance, which had not applied for a MiCA license, stopped offering services to EU users ahead of the deadline. Users with holdings on the platform received notice and were given a window to withdraw funds.
The 70/30 withdrawal split carries implications for regulatory coverage. Self-custody wallets fall outside direct supervisory reach, whereas the 30% moving to MiCA-authorized platforms remained within regulated channels. Teng did not identify which compliant exchanges received inflows or provide further detail on the composition of departing users by geography or asset type.
