Bitpanda, the Vienna, Austria-based cryptocurrency broker, is leaning into a strategy it has been quietly building for years: keeping its retail business anchored in Europe while expanding globally by supplying cryptocurrency infrastructure to banks and financial firms.
The company’s next phase of growth will focus less on raw number of users and more on geographic reach, Vishal Sacheendran, vice president of global markets strategy and operations, told CoinDesk in an interview.
“It’s about having a presence in more markets,” Sacheendran said.
This expansion is based on its constant growth. The company, which has more than 7 million users, this week reported 371 million euros ($430 million) in adjusted revenue for 2025, up 16% from a year earlier, while its registered user base rose 25% to 7.4 million.
The company is also considering going public. Bitpanda is reportedly preparing for a possible IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as early as the first half of 2026, aiming for a valuation of between €4 billion and €5 billion. The plan comes as multiple crypto exchanges and infrastructure companies have gone public or plan to do so.
Bringing cryptocurrencies to banks
The exchange has spent the last decade focusing largely on the European Union, where its app allows retail users to trade cryptocurrencies and other assets. But outside Europe, Sacheendran said the strategy must change. In some markets (especially smaller ones or those already dominated by global exchanges) launching a consumer app may not make sense.
Instead, Bitpanda wants to work through banks and financial institutions that already have distribution. “We don’t want to compete with everyone’s stock exchanges,” he said. “There is a large segment of the market that still trusts banks.”
The company formalized that approach in early March with the launch of Bitpanda Enterprise, a new institutional offering that packages the firm’s infrastructure for banks, brokers, asset managers, fintechs and corporate clients.
The unit builds on Bitpanda’s existing B2B business, formerly known as Bitpanda Technology Solutions, and bundles several services into a single platform. These include API-based investment infrastructure for financial brands, institutional-grade custody, trading liquidity and settlement tools, and payment pathways for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. The platform also includes token infrastructure for the issuance of stablecoins and systems designed to support tokenized assets.
UAE launch pad
An early example of that model came in July, when RAKBANK, one of the oldest lenders in the United Arab Emirates, launched cryptocurrency trading for retail customers through a partnership with Bitpanda. Instead of building its own infrastructure, the bank connected to Bitpanda’s platform.
Sacheendran said deals like that often open doors elsewhere. Once a major bank adopts crypto services, others tend to follow. “When a top-tier bank starts offering it, the rest of the market takes notice,” he said.
Bitpanda’s pitch to institutional partners largely depends on its regulatory positioning. The company has been operating under strict licensing requirements, including the European Union’s MiCA framework, widely considered one of the most comprehensive crypto regulatory regimes.
Regulatory moat
That regulatory credibility travels, Sacheendran said, especially in emerging markets where regulators are still shaping their approach to digital assets. In many of those regions (including parts of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East) authorities are eager to develop the sector, but want partners who already operate within robust compliance frameworks.
Asia-Pacific illustrates the complexity. The region is “very fragmented,” he said, with different rules in jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Bitpanda’s approach will be gradual: start small, test demand, and scale where regulatory and business conditions align.
On the product side, Bitpanda is evaluating derivatives trading, although Sacheendran noted that regulations differ widely between jurisdictions. He also expects tokenization to become a bigger issue in the coming years, particularly for assets like bonds, money market funds and real estate.
Those markets could benefit from blockchain’s ability to enable 24-hour trading and broader access to investors, he said.
One area that Bitpanda is unlikely to enter directly is the issuance of stablecoins. “We don’t build a stablecoin,” Sacheendran said, noting that the company prefers to provide infrastructure and operational support to institutions that want to launch their own.
Read more: Tighter MiCA rules could slow cryptocurrency industry across EU, says Swiss wealth manager
