Austrian Fintech Unicorn Bitpanda secured a third license under the European Union’s Crypto Asset Regulation (MICA) framework, further expanding its regulatory footprint across the block.
Bitpanda on April 10th announced that it would receive a new MICA license from the Austrian Financial Markets Authority (FMA) after approval from German and Maltese regulators.
Its latest approval is “another step to building Europe’s most regulated cryptographic platform,” says X’s announcement.
Source: Bitpanda
Fully effective on December 30, 2024, MICA is designed to provide a harmonious legal framework for crypto asset service providers (CASPs) throughout the EU. Despite this goal, Bitpanda’s pursuit of multiple licenses raises questions about how Mica is interpreted and enforced across the block.
Bitpanda’s Mica Collection Story
Vienna-Headquarted Bitpanda was one of the first Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) to receive a MICA license after the framework was completely stopped on December 30, 2024.
Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BAFIN) is the first regulator to issue Bitpanda’s MICA license, the company announced on January 23rd.
According to Bitpanda’s announcement on LinkedIn, they have since secured another MICA license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).
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“Following the announcement of the first MICAR license yesterday, this second license sends a clear message. Bitpanda sets the standard as Europe’s most secure and well-regulated cryptographic platform,” the company wrote.
Bitpanda has announced that it will receive a MICA license from MFSA on LinkedIn Post. Source: LinkedIn Post Date Extractor
At the time of publication, the relevant regulators (Austria FMA, Germany Baffin, or MFSA in Malta) do not maintain a public registry indicating which companies are receiving MICA licenses.
Data from Austrian financial market authorities regarding Bitpanda licensing. Source: FMA
According to Austrian FMA records, Bitpanda currently holds four different approvals in Austria and Germany for entities such as Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH, Bitpanda Financial Services GmbH, Bitpanda GmbH and Bitpanda Payments GmbH.
Does MICA offer multiple licenses in the EU state?
The MICA framework proposed in 2020 is designed to set comprehensive regulations for CASPs across the EU, creating a “Unified EU Market Regulation for Cryptocurrency” according to the leading MICA regulators, the European securities and market authorities.
Despite MICA’s purpose to harmonize crypto regulations across the EU, Bitpanda’s pursuit of multiple licenses suggests that regulatory conflicts may still exist in member states.
Cointelegraph approached Bitpanda for comments on its approach to securing multiple MICA licenses, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
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