Austria's FMA fines crypto broker Bitpanda $81,000 in first published MiCA penalty

Austria's financial regulator fined Bitpanda GmbH €70,000 ($81,130) last week for violations of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, marking the first published legally binding penalty under the new framework in the country.

The Austrian Financial Market Authority said in a statement that Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto-asset white paper at least 20 working days before its publication and distributed a marketing communication before the required white paper had been published. 

The company also failed to include required disclosures and contact information in a marketing communication, the regulator added. 

Bitpanda, founded in Vienna in 2014, provides crypto services including custody, exchange, and order execution. Germany’s financial regulator BaFin granted the company a MiCA license last year to serve customers across the European Economic Area, while Austria’s FMA authorized Bitpanda GmbH to provide custody, exchange, order execution and other crypto services in April 2025.

In a separate statement, the FMA said this was the first time it had published a legally binding penalty decision under MiCA.

"The publication of sanctions is part of the legal system and serves to ensure transparency for market participants and investors," the regulator wrote. "The fact that this is the first published MiCAR case does not in itself justify a special status for the company concerned or the violations found."

The Block reached out to Bitpanda for comment.

Bitpanda has also been preparing for a potential public listing. Bloomberg reported in January that the company was considering an IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, targeting a valuation of €4 billion to €5 billion, with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank hired to arrange the offering.