Bitpanda fined €70,000 for MiCA breaches in Austria

Austria fined Bitpanda €70,000 for MiCA breaches, including missing a white paper deadline and incomplete marketing, marking the first published MiCA penalty and stricter EU crypto enforcement.

Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) has fined Bitpanda €70,000 for multiple breaches of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto-asset white paper to the regulator at least 20 working days before publication and released marketing communications before the required white paper was published. Additionally, Bitpanda’s marketing materials lacked mandatory disclosures, such as a statement clarifying that the white paper had not been reviewed or approved by the regulator, and omitted essential contact information. The FMA described this as its first published and legally binding MiCA penalty decision, marking a shift from regulatory supervision to active enforcement in the EU’s crypto sector. The proceedings were expedited, and the fine is now final, drawing industry attention to the importance of MiCA compliance.