Bitpanda Crypto Exchange Gets License in Norway in European Expansion Bid
Vienna-based Bitpanda, one of Europe's largest crypto exchanges, has become one of the first foreign entities to receive a virtual authentication service provider license in Norway. The announcement came on October 19 on the company's official X (formerly Twitter) account.
Bitpanda is licensed in several European jurisdictions such as Austria, Germany, France, Czech Republic and Sweden. Bitpanda Deputy CEO Lucas Inzersdorfer-Konrad said the registration marks another step for the company to expand in Europe.
“It is clear that we need an investment platform that we can trust in Europe. At Bitpanda, we know how to be that platform. In the last 12 months, we were the only European provider to receive licenses in Germany, Sweden and Norway. We now have more than 4 million users and are among Europe's leading financial institutions and We enable neobanks to offer digital assets.
Norway, which remains outside the EU in May 2023, has indicated it will go its own way on crypto asset regulation. The country's central bank said in its annual report that the upcoming pan-EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation “may not be sufficient for all crypto regulatory needs.”
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Meanwhile, some major crypto exchanges continue to struggle with European regulators. In September, the New York headquarters decided to leave the Netherlands because Gemini could not meet the requirements of the regulators. The problems do not end within EU jurisdiction. The UK's financial markets regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has recently added 143 new entities to its warning list of unregistered asset providers.
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