Bitpanda Grabs Another Regulatory Approval, this time in the UK

Austrian cryptocurrency platform Bitpanda has successfully secured regulatory approval from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), allowing the company to expand its services in the region. With this approval, Bitpanda will offer UK investors access to more than 500 cryptocurrencies, staking services, savings plans, and crypto indexes. Deputy CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad confirmed that the platform's UK offerings would mirror those available in the European Union, providing a broad range of crypto services to UK users.

Bitpanda's expansion in the UK comes after a temporary halt on onboarding new UK users in 2023. This pause was a response to the FCA's stricter Financial Promotions (FinProm) Regime, which introduced new marketing rules for crypto companies. Existing customers were still able to use their accounts during the suspension, and now, with the new FCA approval, Bitpanda is poised to resume offering a full suite of services to new and existing UK customers.

The FCA's approval aligns with Bitpanda's broader European strategy, as the company recently secured a license under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework. This license allows Bitpanda to operate across all 27 EU member states, offering a unified regulatory approach. Despite the expansion, Enzersdorfer-Konrad confirmed that Bitpanda has no immediate plans to list UK-specific coins, and the crypto offerings in the UK will be identical to those in the EU.

Bitpanda's expansion into the UK follows similar moves by other major exchanges, such as Coinbase, which have also received FCA approval. However, Bitpanda has made it clear that it will not offer certain tokens like Tether's USDt (USDT) to its clients in the UK or the EU due to compliance with MiCA regulations.