Bitpanda Hit with €70K Fine for MiCA Breaches in Austria

Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA) has fined Bitpanda GmbH €70,000 ($81,150) for breaching the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. The fine marks the FMA's first publicly disclosed penalty under MiCA.

The case centers on a token launch from early last year when Bitpanda submitted its required white paper to the FMA fewer than 20 working days before publishing it publicly, violating MiCA's strict minimum notice period of 20 working days.

Additionally, two separate marketing communications distributed by Bitpanda were found to be in breach of the regulation. One was missing several mandatory elements, including a statement confirming that no competent authority had reviewed or approved the document and a required telephone number and email address.

Bitpanda confirmed the white paper was submitted early last year and stated that the violations were limited to timing and formal requirements around the document and an accompanying information file. The company said it coordinated with the FMA throughout the process and corrected the issues after they were raised by the regulator.