Talent and safety swayed Binance to choose Greece as base for EU expansion

The talented workforce and the level of security that Greece can offer played a key role in Binance’s decision to pick the nation as its main European port.

The acknowledgment came from the chief executive of the cryptocurrency exchange, which recently filed for a license from Athens under the EU’s latest regulations.

Binance likes Greece’s labor force and security, Teng reveals

The world’s largest trading platform for digital assets by daily volume, Binance, recently chose Greece as a strategic hub for its growth in the European Union.

The country’s qualified workforce and security profile have now been highlighted by the crypto behemoth’s co-CEO Richard Teng as key motives for the move.

In January, Binance applied for a Greek license that will allow it to operate across the region within the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) forum in Tokyo, Teng noted that while the authorization is largely standardized, the company took into account other conditions as well.

Quoted by Reuters and a number of local news outlets on Thursday, including the national broadcaster ERT, the executive explained:

The coin trading giant, which has 300 million users around the world holding around $44 billion worth of bitcoin in their wallets, operates globally from Abu Dhabi.

Teng, a former regulator in the UAE capital, has been working to make Binance the world’s “most regulated” crypto exchange, ever since taking the post from Changpeng Zhao.

He succeeded CZ after Binance’s founder pleaded guilty to violating U.S. money-laundering laws and got an almost four-month prison sentence, before U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned him last year. In December 2025, Binance’s co-founder and Zhao’s partner, Yi He, was named co-CEO with Teng.

Will Greece become Europe’s next MiCA gateway?

While Greece is yet to issue its first MiCA license, Greek media reports revealed that the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC), the national regulator responsible for the process, has indicated it will expedite the review of Binance’s application.

Other EU member states have already gained much more experience, including the bloc’s economic powerhouse, Germany, which has licensed 45 entities under the common crypto regulation, and the Netherlands, with 22 authorizations in its record.

Smaller nations, like the Baltic states, are also trying hard to establish themselves as MiCA gateways. Latvia announced in early December that it had issued its first licenses, while, later that month, Lithuania reported that it had accepted about 30 applications.

Crypto platforms are required to obtain the new permits by July 2026, if they are to maintain operations in the cryptocurrency sector of the single market.

However, some nations are still lagging behind in the implementation of the new EU law. Poland, which has arguably the largest crypto market in Eastern Europe, is the most obvious example.

Its Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) recently warned that the activities of domestic service providers, including digital-asset exchanges, may soon become illegal.

The Polish legislation designed to transpose MiCA is in limbo amid a political clash between the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki, who vetoed the bill for the second time in February.

Binance’s choice is of great significance for the region of Southeast Europe, where many of Greece’s neighbors are yet to issue their first MiCA licenses.