The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2014–2026
Bitpanda bets MiCA's EU passport turns one license into 27 markets; revenue hits €371M
Vienna crypto broker Bitpanda bet EU's MiCA regime would make one license a 27-country passport; it stacked three licenses and hit €371M revenue.
Bitpanda GmbH
What the business is
Bitpanda is a Vienna-based multi-asset investment platform (crypto, stocks, ETFs, precious metals) founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer. It combines a retail broker with a B2B infrastructure arm that lets banks and fintechs white-label its trading rails; by 2025 it offered more than 650 digital assets.
Starting capital：$52M Series A (2020) and $170M Series B at a $1.2B valuation led by Valar Ventures (Mar 2021) made Bitpanda Austria's first unicorn; a $263M round at a $4.1B valuation followed in Aug 2021.
How it started
Bitpanda was founded in Vienna in 2014 and grew into one of Europe's largest crypto brokers, reaching 6M users by end-2024. When MiCA took full effect on Dec 30 2024, Bitpanda made passporting its growth strategy: on Jan 27 2025 it announced it was one of the first major crypto companies to receive a MiCA license, issued by Germany's BaFin, valid across all 27 EU states.
What happened
Bitpanda then stacked licenses rather than stopping at one: a second MiCA license from Malta's MFSA followed, and on Apr 10 2025 Austria's FMA awarded a third. Rivals and press questioned why a passporting regime required three licenses; deputy CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad said MiCAR allows passporting but national regulators did not launch simultaneously, and that the multi-license setup was the 'most robust MiCAR setup in the industry'. Meanwhile the company kept building: margin trading on 100+ crypto assets, staking on 50+, a web3 wallet, and entry into Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
How it ended up
The bet is paying off so far. FY2025: adjusted revenue €371M ($430M), up 16%; registered users up 25% to 7.4M; B2B partners up from 9 to 16. Bitpanda also added crypto licenses in the UK and UAE. Adjusted EBITDA fell from €52M to €13M as the company deliberately invested in product, regulation and international expansion.
Background
Bitpanda, the Vienna crypto broker founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer, bet its next phase of growth on the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), fully applicable from Dec 30 2024. MiCA replaces 27 national regimes with one rulebook and one license that passports across the bloc. Bitpanda had spent years as a heavily licensed platform, and on Jan 27 2025 it became one of the first major crypto companies to hold a MiCA license, issued by Germany's BaFin, letting it serve all 27 member states under a single authorization.
Rather than stop at one license, Bitpanda collected three: Germany's BaFin in Jan 2025, Malta's MFSA, and Austria's FMA on Apr 10 2025 — a sequence that drew questions about why a passporting regime needed multiple licenses. Deputy CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad's answer was that MiCA allows passporting but national regulators did not launch at the same time, and that the multi-license setup made Bitpanda the 'most regulated crypto platform in Europe'. The licenses arrived alongside product investment: margin trading on 100+ crypto assets, staking on 50+, a web3 wallet and 650+ listed assets.
The bet shows in the numbers. FY2025 adjusted revenue was €371M (~$430M), up 16%, with users up 25% to 7.4M and B2B partners up from 9 to 16; Bitpanda also added licenses in the UK and UAE while entering Latin America and APAC. Adjusted EBITDA fell from €52M to €13M as management deliberately invested in product, regulation and international growth. The passport turned a compliance-heavy cost base into a scaling asset: one authorization, 27 markets.
What has to be true
- MiCA made the regulatory stack itself the wedge: one BaFin license legally opened all 27 member states, which is exactly what a broker needs to scale.
- Bitpanda was already a licensed, compliance-heavy platform, so the harmonized regime rewarded its existing cost base instead of punishing it.
- Stacking Germany, Malta and Austria licenses shows the bet was proactive: it chose the hardest-credentialed position before competitors finished their first application.
- The 2025 results (€371M revenue, 7.4M users) and the 9-to-16 growth in B2B partners show the passport fed both the retail and the institutional business.
What can be applied
A harmonizing regulation can turn compliance into a moat: first movers with the new license get a passport competitors must match.
Aftermath
As of Sep 2026 Bitpanda is live and growing under its MiCA setup: FY2025 revenue €371M (+16%), 7.4M registered users (+25%), 16 B2B partners, and additional licenses in the UK and UAE, with expansion into Latin America and Asia-Pacific underway. The €13M adjusted EBITDA for 2025 (down from €52M in 2024) reflects deliberate investment rather than deterioration. MiCA itself has become the EU's baseline for crypto; the main open question is how national regulators converge in practice, which is exactly why Bitpanda's multi-license approach may keep paying off.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA)
- Neobroker Bitpanda raises $170M at a $1.2B valuation to take its trading platform beyond crypto
- Bitpanda erhält EU-weite Kryptolizenz
- Bitpanda secures third MiCA license in home jurisdiction of Austria
- Bitpanda reports $430 million adjusted revenue in 2025 as user base grows 25%
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