Vienna, Austria-based crypto broker Bitpanda is building on a strategy it has been quietly developing for years: keeping its retail business anchored in Europe while expanding globally by providing crypto infrastructure to banks and financial firms.
The company’s next phase of growth will focus less on raw user numbers 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 builds on its constant growth. The company, which has more than 7 million users, this week reported adjusted revenue of 371 million euros ($430 million) for 2025, up 16% from the previous year, while its registered user base grew 25% to 7.4 million.
The company is also considering a public listing. Bitpanda is reportedly preparing for a possible IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the first half of 2026, with the aim of a valuation of between 4 and 5 billion euros. The plan comes as several crypto exchanges and infrastructure companies have gone public or are considering doing so.
Bringing crypto to banks
The exchange has largely focused over the past decade on the European Union, where its app allows retail users to trade cryptocurrencies and other assets. But outside Europe, Sacheendran said the strategy needs to 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 stock exchanges around the world,” he said. “There is a significant segment of the market that still trusts banks.”
The company formalized this approach in early March with the launch of Bitpanda Enterprise, a new institutional offering that brings together the company’s infrastructure for banks, brokers, asset managers, fintechs and enterprise clients.
The unit builds on Bitpanda’s existing B2B business, formerly known as Bitpanda Technology Solutions, and brings together multiple services on a single platform. These include API-based investment infrastructure for financial brands, institutional-grade custody, liquidity and trade settlement tools, and payment rails for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. The platform also includes token infrastructure for issuing stablecoins and systems designed to support tokenized assets.
UAE launch pad
An early example of this model came in July, when RAKBANK, one of the UAE’s oldest lenders, launched cryptocurrency trading for retail clients through a partnership with Bitpanda. Instead of building its own infrastructure, the bank connected to the Bitpanda platform.
Sacheendran said such deals often open doors elsewhere. Once a major bank adopts crypto services, others tend to follow. “When a top bank starts offering it, the rest of the market notices,” he said.
Bitpanda’s discourse with institutional partners is largely based on its regulatory positioning. The company operates under strict licensing requirements, including the European Union’s MiCA framework, widely considered one of the most comprehensive crypto regulatory regimes.
Regulatory gap
This regulatory credibility is spreading, Sacheendran said, particularly in emerging markets where regulators are still shaping their approach to digital assets. In many of these regions – including parts of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East – authorities are keen to grow the sector but are looking for partners who already operate within strong compliance frameworks.
Asia-Pacific illustrates the complexity. The region is “very fragmented,” he said, with different rules in jurisdictions like Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Bitpanda’s approach will be incremental: start small, test demand, and scale where regulatory and business conditions align.
On the product side, Bitpanda rates derivatives trading, although Sacheendran noted that regulations differ significantly between jurisdictions. He also expects tokenization to become a bigger theme in the coming years, particularly for assets such as bonds, money market funds and real estate.
These markets could benefit from blockchain’s ability to enable 24-hour trading and broader access to investors, he said.
One area Bitpanda is unlikely to directly enter is stablecoin issuance. “We are not building a stablecoin,” Sacheendran said, emphasizing that the company prefers to provide infrastructure and operational support to institutions that want to launch their own.
Read more: Stricter MiCA rules could weaken EU crypto industry, says Swiss wealth manager
