Vienna-based company Crypto and Fintech Bitpanda obtained a license from a payment service provider from the Austrian financial regulator.
The license was reportedly issued by Bitpanda Payments GmbH by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) in accordance with the European Union Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2).
In force since January 2018, PDS2 has introduced revised rules for payment service providers – whether they are traditional banks or fintech firms – in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the EU.
Bitpanda, managing the platform for retail crypto-brokerage, said in a press release on April 4 that the new license will allow it to expand its business model and offer new payment solutions to support its crypto offers.
The announcement emphasizes that acquiring a license can help break down the barriers between cryptospace and the world of traditional finance.
Philip Born, one of the two managing directors of Bitpanda Payments, reportedly managed the director of the Association of Financial Service Providers at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce for 9 years prior to his role in Bitpanda. His colleague, Lucas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, previously was the head of the department for digitalization and innovation in the Austrian banking group Raiffeisen.
Enzersdorfer-Konrad stated that the license will allow Fintech cryptocurrency to offer more “convenient and innovative features and services”, which are designed so that “digital assets can be spent in any place where users want.”
Worldwide, jurisdictions are adapting their existing regulatory regimes in the light of the rapid changes in the payment landscape, which are proclaimed by crypto-technology, blockchain-technology and other technological innovations. In Singapore, the country’s central bank expanded its framework for payment providers to include certain crypto payment tokens in November 2018.
In Japan, financial services company SBI Holdings obtained a license as a registered electronic payment service provider for its joint operations with Ripple in September 2018.
