RBI and Bitpanda Expand Crypto Partnership Across 11 CEE Markets
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and Bitpanda are expanding their digital-asset-services partnership across 11 Central and Eastern European markets. The deal gives RBI's network banks access to Bitpanda Enterprise, a B2B infrastructure platform that addresses digital-asset investment infrastructure, liquidity, custody, payments, stablecoins, and tokenization.
The rollout will be market by market, with individual RBI banks deciding which services to offer based on local regulatory needs. The partnership builds on a 2024 pilot between Raiffeisen Landesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien) and Bitpanda, which made it one of the first traditional EU banks to offer customers access to crypto via an established banking framework.
RBI CEO Michael Höllerer said the bank is witnessing increasing demand for crypto assets in its markets and is catering to this through its collaboration with Bitpanda. The partnership also reflects a larger trend in crypto, where banks are leveraging specialized infrastructure providers instead of building out everything themselves.