Crypto adoption has reached the French Riviera, with more than 80 merchants across the area now accepting stablecoins and cryptocurrency payments, following a new partnership between Binance Pay and French fintech firm Lyzi.
The initiative, which spans cities including Cannes, Nice, Antibes, and Monaco, marks one of the most expansive real-world deployments of crypto payments in a European luxury destination to date.
More than 100 cryptocurrencies are supported through Binance Pay, including euro and dollar-pegged stablecoins. All transactions are settled instantly in euros for merchants, eliminating exposure to crypto market volatility and streamlining the checkout experience.
According to the announcement, the rollout spans a wide range of businesses, from luxury hotels and beach clubs to opticians, gyms, and high-end retail stores.
Lyzi CEO Damien Patureaux also emphasized merchant enthusiasm for the move. “We’ve seen exceptional enthusiasm from merchants,” he said. “They’re excited to be leading the way for crypto payments acceptance in France.”
“This adoption of crypto payments in a world-class destination like the French Riviera shows that digital assets are becoming part of everyday life,” said David Princay, CEO of Binance France.
Central to this progress is the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which officially came into force last year after four years of legislative work. MiCA establishes a harmonized framework for crypto regulation across the 30 European Economic Area (EEA) countries, setting rules on token issuance, exchange operations, consumer protection, and market abuse.
The expansion of crypto payments across the French Riviera is just the latest sign of how Europe’s regulatory clarity is powering real-world adoption.
With a “pan-European passport,” once licensed in one EU jurisdiction, these platforms can now offer services across the entire EEA, encouraging healthy competition and a more stable market.
The firm also resumed full services in Syria following U.S. sanctions relief and maintained its position as the liquidity leader among centralized exchanges, holding over $31 billion in stablecoins.
This regulatory certainty has attracted major global exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Bybit, to secure licenses under MiCA.