The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) has given the crypto currency fintech Bitpanda the green light for a Payment Service Provider license.
The license allows Bitpanda to act under European law (PSD2) as a payment institution in the future. The Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) is a European Union (EU) directive on the regulation of payment service providers throughout the EU and throughout the European Economic Area (EEA). The goal is for everyone, from traditional banks to fintechs such as Bitpanda, to participate in an open European market while offering their users new innovations and more efficient processes.
“Milestone” for fintech
The Bitpanda Group described the FMA’s permission as a “significant milestone”. Fintech intends to develop new functions and products for its customers in the coming months on the basis of the license. The goal is to close the gap between the modern and the traditional financial world.
The result is an open, innovative investment platform that provides easy-to-use, convenient access to a variety of digital assets. Currently, Bitpanda is expanding its trading platform to other asset classes that go beyond cryptocurrencies.
Break down barriers in the financial world
“With the license of the payment service provider, we can reduce barriers,” says Philipp Bohrn, one of the two managing directors of Bitpanda Payments GmbH. “We want to be the missing link to place digital assets wherever our users want them. With the license, we are the first supplier in Europe to offer practical and innovative functions and services” adds Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, second director of the Bitpanda Group.
Bitpanda is one of the few European cryptocurrency fintechs to have obtained such a license from the competent financial market regulator. The company’s team has more than 100 members and, according to the company, has around one million users.