Binance CEO Richard Teng said that after the exchange scaled back its European operations under MiCA, roughly 70% of withdrawals from affected EU users went into self-custodied wallets rather than to competing exchanges, according to a July 10, 2026 post from crypto outlet WuBlockchain summarizing his remarks. The figure is a single data point from the company itself, not an independent audit, but it is one of the first concrete numbers on where European money goes when a large custodial venue steps back.
The claim lands during a fragile stretch for sentiment. As of July 10, 2026, Bitcoin traded around $63,042, up 1.1% on the day, while Ether sat near $1,741 and the Fear & Greed index read 28, firmly in "Fear." The market is not reacting to this specific comment, but the backdrop matters: users moving to spend from their own wallet tend to do so when trust in intermediaries is thin, not when everyone feels safe.
The regulatory trigger behind the shift
MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, sets licensing and operational requirements for exchanges serving European users. Firms that decide the compliance burden is too heavy for a given product or region can restrict services rather than fully authorize them. When Binance narrowed what it offered to some EU customers, those users faced a choice: move funds to another licensed exchange, or pull them off-platform entirely.
Teng's number says most chose the second path. That is the surprising part. The intuitive assumption is that when one exchange pulls back, rivals absorb the flow. Competitors like OKX have leaned into full MiCA authorization precisely to catch users looking for a compliant home. A 70% self-custody rate, if it holds up, suggests regulation is not simply reshuffling users between platforms. It is pushing a large share of them out of the custodial model altogether.
Reading the number with appropriate caution
One caveat is unavoidable: the source is the CEO of the company whose users are moving. A high self-custody rate is a flattering framing for Binance. It implies departing users are not defecting to a competitor but choosing independence, which softens the story of a European retreat. There is no on-chain breakdown attached to the claim, no third-party confirmation, and no definition of what counts as a "self-custodied wallet" versus a transfer that later lands on another exchange. Treat 70% as a directional signal, not a settled fact.
Even directionally, it fits a pattern already visible in the data. European stablecoin activity has climbed sharply under the new rules, with euro stablecoins jumping 128% as MiCA reshaped what issuers can offer. Bitcoin and Ethereum balances held on exchanges have fallen to multi-year lows, a trend consistent with coins leaving custodial venues for private wallets. A regulatory event that accelerates self-custody is not out of character for this cycle.
The custody question this raises for spenders
Self-custody removes counterparty risk. If a custodial provider hits insolvency, as FTX and Wirecard did in their respective collapses, user balances can be frozen or lost. Holding your own keys sidesteps that entirely. The tradeoff is responsibility: lose the seed phrase, and no support desk can recover the funds.
For anyone who spends crypto, that tradeoff has a practical edge. Moving a balance into a self-custodied wallet does not have to mean parking it and forgetting it. A growing set of cards let users spend directly from wallets they control, drawing down stablecoin balances at the point of sale without first handing custody to an exchange. Providers such as Gnosis Pay and MetaMask are built around exactly that model. If Teng's number reflects a real behavioral shift among European users, demand for non-custodial spending rails is likely to follow the funds off-platform.
Whether 70% survives independent scrutiny is the open question. What is not in doubt is the direction of travel: each MiCA milestone that narrows what custodial platforms can offer gives users one more reason to hold their own keys.
Overview
Binance's CEO says 70% of withdrawals from EU users affected by its MiCA pullback went to self-custodied wallets rather than rival exchanges. The figure is company-supplied and unverified, so it should be read as a directional signal. It aligns with broader 2026 trends: rising euro stablecoin use, multi-year lows in exchange-held BTC and ETH, and steady growth in non-custodial spending tools.
