Binance Fees Could Drain Small EU Crypto Accounts Before December 31 Closures

• Binance will close affected accounts in France, Spain, Italy and Poland on December 31, 2026.
• Monthly fees of 0.025% or 10 USDC, whichever is higher, start on November 29.
• Accounts with less than about 40,000 USDC will pay the flat 10 USDC minimum.
• Binance may take the entire balance if an account holds less than the fee.
• The closures follow Binance’s failure to secure a MiCA licence before the July 1 deadline.

Binance customers in four European countries face a fee schedule that will reduce small crypto balances before their accounts close on December 31. The exchange will start charging monthly fees on remaining holdings from November 29, according to emails shared by affected users.

The notices have gone to customers in France, Spain, Italy and Poland. These are countries where Binance once ran locally registered businesses before the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, known as MiCA, took full effect.

A Binance spokesperson confirmed that affected accounts will be closed with effect from December 31, 2026. The company described the process as carefully managed and said there was no sudden freeze on accounts.

How the Fees Work

The monthly charge will be 0.025% of the remaining balance or 10 USDC, whichever is higher. USDC is a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.

The flat minimum means any account holding less than about 40,000 USDC will pay the 10 USDC fee rather than the percentage charge. For a user with a few hundred dollars left on the platform, that fee takes a larger share of their holdings.

The first deduction will happen within three days of November 29. A second charge will follow after December 24, one week before the closure date.

Binance will take fees from USDC holdings first. If a customer does not hold enough USDC, the exchange will use other cryptocurrencies in the account.

🚨 BREAKING:

BINANCE IS SHUTTING DOWN ACCOUNTS FOR SOME EUROPEAN USERS, WITH A DECEMBER 31 DEADLINE.

Millions of Europeans use Binance, but certain customers are now being told to withdraw their crypto before the end of 2026.

Here is what is happening:

🇫🇷 France
🇪🇸 Spain
🇮🇹… pic.twitter.com/YOs5U1Mkjz

— Senator Cynthia lummis RV (@SenatorLump8) November 8, 2026

The emails also state that if an account holds less than the applicable fee, Binance may deduct the entire remaining balance. This means very small accounts could be emptied by the charges.

Customers who still hold crypto after December 31 will have their accounts treated as inactive. Remaining assets may then be converted, transferred or otherwise handled under Binance’s terms of use.

The exact fee schedule has not been confirmed in a public Binance announcement. However, the exchange’s published terms already allow monthly dormant-account fees and, in certain cases, the conversion or transfer of assets in inactive accounts.

Deposits are already blocked for affected users. Customers can still withdraw both cryptocurrency and fiat balances before the deadline.

Why Binance Is Closing Accounts

MiCA requires crypto service providers to get authorization in one EU member state to operate across the bloc. The transition period for existing providers ended on July 1, 2026.

Binance withdrew its application to the Hellenic Capital Market Commission in Greece on June 24, after months of talks without a formal decision. That same month, it first warned affected European customers to withdraw their holdings, then stopped accepting new EU registrations.

France’s Autorité des marchés financiers removed Binance France SAS from its national register on July 2. The removal was automatic because the national registration system ended with the MiCA transition, rather than being an enforcement action.

Not every European user is affected in the same way. Customers in countries such as Portugal, where Binance did not run a local entity, have not received the same closure notices, though they remain under wider MiCA restrictions.

Regulators have also examined Binance’s use of MiCA’s reverse-solicitation exemption. That narrow rule lets an overseas provider serve an EU customer only when the customer approaches it on their own initiative.

In July, co-CEO Richard Teng said the exchange was in close talks with regulators in other jurisdictions. Binance says it still plans to secure a MiCA licence through another European regulator, but it has not named which one.