Austria Slaps Bitpanda with €70,000 Fine Under MiCA Regulation

Austria's financial regulator, the FMA, has fined digital asset platform Bitpanda €70,000 for violating several provisions of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

The fine was imposed on August 14, and according to the FMA, Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto-asset white paper at least 20 working days before its publication. The platform also disseminated marketing communications without publishing the required white paper beforehand.

Under MiCA, firms offering to the public a crypto-asset must submit their white paper and publish it before any marketing material is published related to the asset. The FMA stated that Bitpanda failed to comply with these requirements, including not including a telephone number and email address for contact in its marketing materials.

Bitpanda confirmed that the issues were related to timing and formal requirements surrounding the publication of the white paper and accompanying information document. The firm claimed it rectified the issues after receiving notice from the FMA, stating that customer funds and platform security were unaffected and customers suffered no financial harm.