Bitpanda and Coinbase Partner to Transform European Banks’ Crypto Services

Bitpanda, an Austrian-based cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform, has partnered strategically with renowned U.S.-listed exchange giant Coinbase (COIN), which is an interesting move for the European banking sector. This partnership intends to empower European banks by enabling them to offer digital asset services to their clients.

Through the recently announced agreement, Coinbase will be able to link directly with banks and fintech companies around Europe by using Bitpanda Technology Solutions, a provider of business-to-business infrastructure layers. Coinbase gains a strong mechanism to expand its products to end users through its exchange and custody services by integrating with Bitpanda’s infrastructure.

The COO of BitPanda, Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, emphasized that banks are increasingly realizing the value of providing crypto services to meet client demand, despite the difficulties the cryptocurrency market has recently undergone. This practice has been very popular in Europe, especially after the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework was adopted.

Enzersdorfer-Konrad explained in an interview, “Coinbase has a liquidity venue with their exchange and they have the custody setup. But they don’t have the whole infrastructure middle layer that a partner can integrate and offer crypto traded and bought on Coinbase exchange and stored on Coinbase Custody to their end customers.”

With numerous banks, neo-banks, and fintech platforms already connected, Bitpanda has already created its crypto connectivity. Raiffeisenlandesbank, an established Austrian lender, N26, a well-known European mobile bank, Lydia, a French money app, Plum, a UK-based fintech company, and Hype, an Italian mobile bank, are a few of the important partners. Because of its wide network, Bitpanda can serve as a trusted intermediary for banks looking to enter the cryptocurrency market.

Enzersdorfer-Konrad highlighted the advantages for banks in embracing this opportunity, stating, “Banks can see the data on their payment transactions and how much of their customers’ funds have been flowing out to crypto companies. They understand how much business they are missing out on, and also how much more of their customer base would do that business if they had enough trust in the process.”

Guillaume Chatain, Head of Institutional Sales for Coinbase in the EMEA and APAC regions, expressed happiness over the collaboration and emphasised the two parties’ shared goal to providing institutions and their clients with reliable and compliant crypto services. He stated, “[Coinbase is] delighted to partner with BitPanda to jointly service institutions looking to bring the market and their customers compliant, robust crypto services.”