Bitpanda’s 3rd License Raises Eyebrows Over MiCA Consistency

Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda has added another regulatory win to its resume, becoming one of the few crypto companies to hold multiple licenses under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework.

On April 10, Bitpanda announced it received a MiCA license from Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA), following earlier approvals from regulators in Germany and Malta. The Vienna-based firm framed the move as part of its push to become “the most regulated crypto platform in Europe,” according to a post on X.

MiCA, which came into full effect on December 30, 2024, is intended to unify crypto regulation across the EU by creating a single licensing framework for crypto asset service providers (CASPs). However, Bitpanda’s accumulation of three separate licenses raised eyebrows over how uniformly MiCA is being interpreted across EU member states.

Bitpanda was among the first firms to receive a MiCA license. Germany’s BaFin granted it approval in January, followed by a license from Malta’s Financial Services Authority (MFSA), and now, the Austrian FMA. The company publicly celebrated each milestone, calling the second license “a clear message” about setting a new standard for security and regulation in the space.

Despite MiCA’s stated purpose of streamlining crypto licensing and oversight, Bitpanda’s approach highlights the lack of a centralized EU registry for MiCA-approved firms. Neither BaFin, the FMA, nor the MFSA have published a public database showing which companies currently hold MiCA licenses.

According to the FMA’s available records, Bitpanda holds four separate regulatory approvals across Austria and Germany, tied to its subsidiaries including Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH, Bitpanda Financial Services GmbH, Bitpanda GmbH, and Bitpanda Payments GmbH.

MiCA was introduced in 2020 to establish a single, uniform rulebook for the crypto market within the EU. But the current patchwork licensing path taken by firms like Bitpanda points to uneven rollout or interpretation of the framework across national regulators — at least for now.

Bitpanda has not commented on why it is collecting MiCA licenses in multiple countries.