Bitpanda crypto exchange received?license from BaFin regulator to?operate in German, making it the first European investment platform?to?fulfill the regulatory standards.

On November 22, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) issued a Crypto Custody and Proprietary trading license for crypto assets to Bitpanda, a cryptocurrency exchange, and custody platform.

This licence enabled Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH to offer German citizens access to its cryptocurrency custody services independently and also offer proprietary trading for crypto assets to German residents. Eric Demuth, CEO of Bitpanda claims that Bitpanda will make other big announcements before the year is out.

In January 2020, BaFin introduced a new licensing regime for crypto assets, which is considered the most comprehensive license of its kind in Germany. Bitpanda applied for a BaFin license about 18 months ago and has worked closely with the German regulator since then to ensure that it meets BaFin's strict regulatory requirements for European retail investment platforms.

Bitpanda, which was established in 2014 has already received authorization from the Financial Market Authority (FMA) of Austria and the Autorité Des Marchés Financiers of France (AMF). Bitpanda is a licensed PSD2 payments provider and is registered as a virtual assets service provider (VASP) in the Czech Republic.

In addition to operating in Austria, France, and the Czech Republic, Bitpanda which purportedly has a worth of $4.1 billion, has obtained the legal licence to operate in Sweden, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Last year, Bitpanda became Austria's first unicorn with a valuation of $4.1 billion and has nearly 4 million users.