Bitpanda fined in Austria’s first published MiCA penalty
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Austrian FMA fined Bitpanda €70,000 ($82,000) on Friday, its first published final penalty under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
- Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto-asset white paper to the regulator at least 20 working days before publication, as MiCA requires.
- Bitpanda distributed a marketing communication before publishing the required white paper, and a second marketing notice omitted mandatory disclosures stating it had not been reviewed or approved by a competent authority — and lacked a required phone number and email address.
- The FMA concluded the proceedings under an expedited procedure, and the penalty decision is final.
- Bitpanda told Cointelegraph the issues were limited to timing and formal requirements around white paper and information document publication, with no impact on customer funds, platform security, or financial harm to customers.
- Bitpanda said it rectified the issues after receiving notice from the FMA and opted for a consensual, swift resolution of the proceedings.
Why it matters: The €70,000 fine is modest for a major crypto platform, but its significance is precedent-setting: it is the first published final penalty under MiCA, the EU's harmonized crypto framework including disclosure, marketing, and authorization requirements. Bitpanda's cooperation and the purely procedural nature of the violations set a template for how EU regulators will handle minor MiCA breaches going forward.
Ask SkimNews
