Bitpanda Receives EU Payment Provider License

The fiat-to-crypto broker is a fully legalized payment provider, opening the doors for expanding its portfolio.

Bitpanda, one of the prominent fiat-to-crypto brokers in the European Union, has secured its license as a payment provider, in accordance with Austrian financial regulations and Europe-wide money management laws.

As a payment provider, Bitpanda would be able to connect the intrinsic value of digital assets with the traditional financial world. Payment providers are key to the creation of cards or spending apps for digital assets. With the new Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) license, Bitpanda has become both a digital asset startup, with its own Pantos (PAN) token, as well as a payment provider, opening the doors to innovative products.

“We want to act as the missing link to make digital assets spendable anywhere our users want. With the license, we are a first mover in Europe to offer convenient and innovative features and services,” said Philipp Bohrn, managing director of the newly created Bitpanda Payments.

Bitpanda has expanded its portfolio of digital assets, and the presence of a license may see the broker move on to other asset classes. Other prominent entities in the cryptocurrency ecosystem that are fully legalized payment processors outside the EU include TrustToken, the issuer of True USD (TUSD). Some companies rely on third-party payment processors to offer fintech and payment services or cards.

“We are very happy that Bitpanda is one of the few European cryptocurrency fintechs to receive such a license. It’s a big step towards our vision to create an open, innovative investment platform,” said Bitpanda CEO Eric Demuth.

Bitpanda’s vision is to provide easy-to-use, convenient access to a vast array of digital assets, and it is currently expanding its trading platform to other asset classes beyond cryptocurrencies.

Bitpanda additionally offers education and popularization services for digital assets. The broker is even offering an automatic savings service to allocate funds to selected digital assets. The company is one of the few that has expanded during the bear market, adding to its team of experts and developers.

The PAN digital asset, however, is yet to start trading on the open market, and go through price discovery.