✦Bitpanda: Research Notes on the Crypto Offering
These notes describe the crypto offering of Bitpanda (bitpanda.com) as Squaby found it on October 20, 2026. They summarize what Bitpanda publishes in its terms, help center and developer documentation, and what official registers and regulators record. Squaby has not tested the platform hands-on. Bitpanda also offers stocks, ETFs and metals; these are not part of the score. Bitpanda serves customers through several group companies depending on the country and the product, and availability, products and fees differ by country; regional differences are named where Squaby found them. The criteria, points and sources are listed in the Squaby Score section above.
1. Background
Bitpanda describes itself as launched in Vienna in 2014. Unless a product term says otherwise, customers contract with Bitpanda GmbH, and the contracting company is shown before each transaction. Other group companies provide some products and services, for example Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH in Berlin, Bitpanda Payments GmbH (an Austrian e-money institution), Bitpanda Financial Services GmbH (securities), Bitpanda Broker UK Ltd in the United Kingdom and two companies in Dubai. In case of a discrepancy between language versions, the German text of the user agreement prevails.
Bitpanda has two ways to trade crypto: the standard Bitpanda interface (called the Broker in its fee documents), which builds a percentage charge into the price, and Bitpanda Fusion, an advanced interface with volume-based fees. Both use one account and one balance. In Fusion, Bitpanda says it is the sole contractual counterparty and acts as principal; it does not operate a multilateral trading system.
2. Enforcement Actions Since October 2021
Squaby found one action with a fine on the authorities' own pages:
✓Austrian Financial Market Authority, FMA (August 2026): the FMA fined Bitpanda GmbH EUR 70,000 for several breaches of the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR): a crypto-asset white paper was not submitted to the FMA at least 20 working days before its publication, a marketing communication was issued before the required white paper had been published, and a marketing communication lacked the required statement and a telephone number and e-mail address. The FMA's announcement of August 14, 2026 says the penal order is final and that it is the first published MiCAR penal order. It makes no finding about customer funds. On October 1, 2026 the FMA added that it is starting a procedure to review the legality of the publication at Bitpanda's request; this concerns the publication, not the fine.
A supervisory finding without a fine was reported in Germany:
✓German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin (special audit): according to reporting by NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung published on tagesschau.de on January 29, 2026, a special audit of Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH that BaFin ordered in 2023 found 16 deficiencies, five of them rated serious, mainly in risk management, IT and outsourcing. In a letter of January 2025 quoted in the report, BaFin wrote that the company still did not have a proper business organization under the German Banking Act, but it left it at an instructive letter. Bitpanda says in its annual report for 2024 that it completed the remediation in the first quarter of 2025. BaFin did not comment, and Squaby found no BaFin publication about the audit.
The Squaby Score counts the enforcement history as concluded: the FMA fine is final, and the BaFin letter was not a fine. Squaby searched the FMA website, the BaFin company database and BaFin web pages, the FCA register and news reports for other actions and found none; the searches for other regulators were not exhaustive.
3. Registrations, Licenses and Restricted Countries
Squaby confirmed Bitpanda group companies in the official sources of three independent regimes:
✓European Union (MiCA): the interim register of the European Securities and Markets Authority lists three crypto-asset service providers that use the Bitpanda name: Bitpanda GmbH (competent authority FMA, authorised April 9, 2025, custody, exchange, order execution, placing, reception and transmission of orders, transfer, passported to 30 countries), Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH (BaFin, Germany, authorised January 24, 2025) and BP23 CA Limited (Malta Financial Services Authority, authorised January 27, 2025, Malta only). The FMA company database lists Bitpanda GmbH as a crypto-asset service provider, and the BaFin database lists Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH as a crypto-asset service provider. The FMA database also shows Bitpanda Payments GmbH as an Austrian e-money institution and Bitpanda Financial Services GmbH as an investment firm licensed since February 27, 2021; Squaby counts these national licenses under the same authority and not as separate jurisdictions.
✓United Kingdom (Financial Conduct Authority): Bitpanda Broker UK Ltd, reference number 925234, is registered for cryptoasset activities under the money laundering regulations since October 11, 2021. The register states that customers cannot complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service or claim from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for this firm. A second firm, Bitpanda Custody Ltd, appears in the register; Squaby did not open its record.
✓United Arab Emirates (Dubai): the public register of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority lists Bitpanda Broker MENA FZCO (broker-dealer services, license VL/25/03/001, March 19, 2025) and Bitpanda Custody MENA FZCO (custody services, license VL/25/04/006, April 25, 2025) as active.
Squaby did not check the Swiss entity or other registrations that Bitpanda may hold; they are not counted.
Legal entity: Bitpanda publishes the name, address and company number of Bitpanda GmbH (Stella-Klein-Löw-Weg 17, 1020 Vienna, commercial register number FN 569240 v). The FMA database and the global LEI register show the same name, address and number. The ESMA register still lists the LEI of the company's predecessor registration, which the LEI register marks as retired. Squaby did not open the Austrian company register itself.
Restricted countries: Bitpanda does not publish a list of refused countries. It publishes a list of the countries where verification is possible (over 40 countries and territories in Europe and beyond, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Turkey; the United States is not on the list) and says that verification is not possible for other countries of residence. Check that your country is on the list before registering.
4. Security and Custody
✓No proof of reserves: Bitpanda says its funds are reviewed by a third party and that customers can request the results of previous reports. Squaby found no published report, auditor name, date or method that customers can verify, so the score treats a proof of reserves as not published.
✓Custody: Bitpanda says it holds customer assets as a trustee, backed 1:1 and not used as collateral. According to its custody policy summary, client crypto assets are kept in a combination of hot and cold wallets, in omnibus accounts per blockchain that are tracked per client in an internal ledger, and protected with multi-signature wallets. Its help center says the vast majority of every supported crypto asset is held offline and only a small operational share online; it does not publish a percentage. Custody functions may be outsourced.
✓Insurance: Bitpanda publishes a summary of an errors and omissions (professional liability) policy of Bitpanda GmbH: primary cover of EUR 5 million from Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE and EUR 5 million excess cover from Starr Europe, with a deductible of EUR 1 million per claim and a policy period from November 1, 2025 to November 1, 2026. It covers Bitpanda's legal liability to third parties for defined events, including gross negligence in safeguarding clients' crypto-assets, and excludes among other things fraud and dishonesty, fines, claims under U.S. and Canadian jurisdiction and insolvency-related claims. It is a liability policy for Bitpanda, not a fund that pays customers directly, and the summary is non-binding.
✓Account security: Bitpanda supports authenticator-app two-factor authentication, email confirmation of logins from new devices and of withdrawals, an anti-phishing code and a list of active sessions. Squaby found no passkey, security key or withdrawal address allowlist in the help center; the address book is a list of saved recipients, and a new address can be added during a withdrawal.
✓Incidents: Squaby found no incident with customer losses since October 2021 in Bitpanda's own pages, on its status page or in news searches. Phishing against Bitpanda users occurs, and Bitpanda warns that it never asks for passwords or two-factor codes. In June 2025 a seller on a cybercrime forum claimed to have data of 5.4 million Bitpanda users; Bitpanda told Cybernews that an internal investigation found no unauthorized access to its systems and called the claims false. No loss of funds was reported.
5. Fees
✓Bitpanda Fusion (spot): one fee rate applies to both sides of a trade, set by the 30-day volume on Bitpanda and Fusion: 0.25% up to EUR 100,000; 0.21% up to EUR 500,000; 0.17% up to EUR 2.5 million; 0.13% up to EUR 10 million; 0.08% up to EUR 50 million; 0.05% up to EUR 250 million; 0.02% above. There is no separate maker and taker rate. The fee is not part of the market price and is shown before an order is placed. Fees paid in the VSN token get a 20% discount according to the help center.
✓Standard interface: the trading fee is a percentage built into a firm quote, set per asset group: 0.99% for Bitcoin, VSN and stablecoins, 1.49% for other crypto assets and 2.49% for assets below EUR 100 million in market capitalization and Spotlight assets. Crypto indices carry 1.99% for rebalancing. Staking takes a commission of 20% of the rewards.
✓Deposits and withdrawals: euro SEPA transfers have no fee from Bitpanda's side; the bank may charge. Bitpanda lists PayPal deposits with a third-party fee of 1.49%, and card fees can come from the card issuer. Bitpanda says Fusion has no Bitpanda-charged deposit or withdrawal fees; third-party and conversion costs may apply. Withdrawal fees and minimum amounts for each crypto asset are listed on the payment methods and limits page. A crypto deposit below the minimum for the asset is not credited and can be lost, and Bitpanda's internal forwarding of deposits can use up a large part of a small deposit.
✓Fee overview: trading fees are in the cost transparency document, while deposit and withdrawal fees are on other pages, so there is no single public fee schedule.
6. Markets, Products and Tools
✓Assets: Bitpanda's public currency list contains 834 crypto coins and tokens; 832 of them can be held outside indices, and Squaby counts those. Leveraged tokens, indices, stocks, ETFs and metals are not counted. Bitpanda says Fusion offers more than 2,000 trading pairs and aggregates prices from more than 12 venues (as of July 2026); Squaby did not verify these statements and does not score liquidity.
✓Products: spot trading, crypto margin trading with up to 10x leverage on selected assets and staking and earn products. Leveraged tokens (for example a 2x long token) exist; Squaby does not count them as derivatives. Product availability depends on the country.
✓Order types: limit, market, stop-limit and take-profit limit orders, with stop-market orders and the time-in-force options GTC, IOC and FOK through the API. Squaby found no OCO or bracket orders.
✓API: the Fusion developer documentation describes a REST API with market data, account, order and trade endpoints, and rate limits of 1,000 requests per minute overall, 240 for market data and 300 for order creation. Bitpanda also offers an AI-assistant interface (MCP) and a command-line tool.
✓Listing and delisting: Bitpanda says every listed asset goes through due diligence that takes market capitalization, stability and developer and user numbers into account, among other things. It publishes no thresholds. Delistings can happen for legal, regulatory, security or liquidity reasons, with at least two weeks notice where possible.
7. Support, Payments and Usability
✓Support: Bitpanda says native experts are available 24/7, 365 days a year. Its support page offers a live chat around the clock that starts with automated answers and can be escalated to a person, a helpdesk contact form, WhatsApp and scheduled phone calls on weekdays from 9 to 5. Complaints are handled by the helpdesk or a complaints website; the first decision is due within three to five business days, and the policy names the Austrian and German conciliation bodies and the EU online dispute resolution platform. The help center is searchable in 11 languages, and a status page with an incident history exists.
✓Verification: Bitpanda says identity verification takes only a few minutes, with an accepted ID document and the name matching it.
✓Fiat currencies and methods: the payment methods page shows nine currencies (EUR, USD, CHF, GBP, PLN, DKK, SEK, HUF and CZK); a help article says ten. Methods depend on the currency: SEPA or other bank transfer for EUR, USD, CHF and GBP; Visa and Mastercard for all nine; PayPal, Apple Pay, EPS and PostFinance Pay for some. Card and wallet deposits are credited almost instantly, and SEPA Instant takes minutes. Withdrawals go to a bank account (EUR, USD, CHF, GBP) or a card (the other currencies). Limits are published for verified accounts only, not per verification level.
✓Apps and languages: Bitpanda publishes apps for iOS and Android, and its website exists in 12 languages. Its Academy offers articles for newcomers.