Bitpanda secures Germany’s BaFin license for crypto custody and prop trading
“The security of our customer’s digital assets, as well as those of our White Label partners, is our top priority.”
Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH has secured a Crypto Custody and Proprietary Trading license for crypto assets from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
The European retail investment platform was the first of kind to meet BaFin’s strict regulatory requirements.
Bitpanda strengthens White Label offering with BaFin license
Eric Demuth, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Bitpanda, said: “At Bitpanda we set the highest standards for ourselves and remain absolutely committed to doing things right, and doing the right things. This principle is firmtly embedded in our DNA as a fully regulated investment platform and, in my opinion, critical to the long-term success of our industry. The security of our customer’s digital assets, as well as those of our White Label partners, is our top priority.
“Receiving the license in Germany is the result of many months of hard work on the part of the entire Bitpanda team and took close cooperation with the team at BaFin. It strengthens our position as a pioneer in terms of regulation in Europe and highlights yet again how well-positioned we are in this area. We want to give our customers a safe, secure and simple way to invest. That means being regulated and it means a strict separation of customer and company assets, which is sadly not the case everywhere these days. We have more exciting announcements to come in 2023 as we continue to deliver additional licenses and product innovations.”
License for crypto custody, prop trading, order book, crypto services
The BaFin-issued Crypto Custody and Proprietary Trading license for crypto assets is based on the new licensing regime introduced by the German financial watchdog in January 2020 – the most comprehensive license of its type in Germany.
The regulatory approval allows Bitpanda to independently offer crypto custody as well as proprietary trading for crypto assets for German residents.
Bitpanda will also be able to maintain an order book and directly market services for crypto assets, enabling them to provide a secure and regulated environment for German customers to invest in a wide range of cryptocurrencies.
The firm started out as a crypto trading platform founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer. Bitpanda has grown to nearly 4 million investors and has been expanding its White Label solutions across the European region, having recently onboarded digital bank N26.
Bitpanda spread across the European Union and the United Kingdom
The Bitpanda Group is also registered with the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), the French Autorité Des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the Czech Trade Authority as VASP, holds the PSD2 licence, the MiFID II licence and became Austria’s first Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in accordance with European law (EMD2), plus has a fully AML5 compliant KYC process.
The company was the first foreign crypto provider to become fully licensed in Sweden, and also secured registration with the Italian Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) and the Bank of Spain.
Bitpanda Custody provides custody services in the United Kingdom in addition to Bitpanda’s existing licenses in the European Union.
