Austria Fines Bitpanda €70,000 Over MiCA Rule Breaches

Highlights:

• The FMA issued its first published final MiCA penalty after finding several disclosure and marketing failures.
• Austria fined Bitpanda €70,000 after the company failed to meet key white paper and marketing requirements.
• Bitpanda still holds MiCA licenses in Germany and Malta despite the Austrian penalty.

Austria’s FMA fined Bitpanda €70,000 for breaking MiCA requirements covering a crypto-asset white paper and related marketing communications. The penalty equals about $82,000 and marks the FMA’s first published final enforcement action under MiCA.

MiCA Rules Hit Bitpanda With Austria’s First Published Penalty

Austria’s financial regulator has fined Bitpanda €70,000 for violating MiCA requirements.

The FMA said Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto asset white paper on time. The company also published marketing material… pic.twitter.com/Wg5Zz5E2LV

— BSCN (@BSCNews) August 17, 2026

The FMA found that Bitpanda failed to submit its crypto-asset white paper at least 20 working days before publication. MiCA requires companies covered by its disclosure rules to meet that notice period before publishing relevant white papers. Bitpanda submitted the document too late to satisfy the requirement, according to the Austrian regulator.

Bitpanda also released a marketing communication before publishing the white paper that MiCA required for the crypto asset. In another communication, Bitpanda omitted mandatory wording stating that no competent authority had reviewed or approved the material. Bitpanda also omitted wording stating that the crypto-asset provider held sole responsibility for the communication’s contents. Moreover, the same marketing material lacked the required telephone number and email address.

The FMA concluded the case through an expedited procedure, making the €70,000 penalty against Bitpanda final. The Austrian case targets Bitpanda’s disclosure and marketing failures rather than the licenses supporting its wider European operations.

Austria Fines Bitpanda Following Disclosure Findings

The FMA issued the penalty weeks after the European Union’s final MiCA transition deadline expired on July 1. The deadline ended applicable grandfathering periods that had allowed some crypto firms to operate under older national registrations. MiCA now requires covered EU crypto firms to meet common standards for authorization, disclosures, governance, security and customer asset protection.

However, the FMA limited its Bitpanda findings to breaches involving the white paper and related marketing communications. The regulator’s published notice did not revoke Bitpanda’s existing MiCA authorization or identify any license withdrawal.

Germany’s BaFin granted Bitpanda a MiCA license in January last year, giving the company access to the EU passporting framework. Passporting allows authorized crypto providers to serve other EU markets without securing separate licenses in each country.

Meanwhile, TRM Labs identified 1,343 crypto service providers across the European Economic Area when examining MiCA authorization levels. Only 281 providers had secured MiCA authorization by July 1, leaving 1,062 without approval in the dataset. TRM Labs counted 55 authorizations in Germany, 29 each in France and the Netherlands, and 20 in Malta.

Vienna Draws More Crypto License Applications

Austria’s FMA is also reviewing MiCA applications from crypto companies seeking regulated operations in the country. Bitget EU submitted its MiCAR authorization application to the FMA on June 17 under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114.

Bitget EU has submitted its MiCAR authorisation application to Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA). The application is currently under regulatory review.

Existing users' access to Bitget Global's products and services continues to be governed by applicable contractual and… pic.twitter.com/7tNtv28Zup

— Bitget (@bitget) June 17, 2026

Bitget chose Vienna, Austria, for its planned European headquarters while pursuing authorization from the Austrian regulator. The company said the Vienna operation would manage compliance, governance and supervisory coordination for its European business.

However, Bitget’s June 17 filing remains an application because the FMA has not granted the requested authorization. Bitget also said its application announcement did not represent approval or endorsement from Austria’s regulator.

Crypto companies seeking Austrian authorization must submit their applications to the FMA under Article 62 of MiCA. The regulator reviews those applications before companies can secure Austrian authorization under the European Union framework.