Key facts
- Bitpanda was fined €70,000 by Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA).
- This is the first published penalty under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
- The fine was issued for failing to submit a crypto-asset white paper at least 20 working days before publication.
- Marketing communications also lacked mandatory disclosures and contact information.
- Bitpanda stated the issues were related to timing and formal specifications and have been corrected.
Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA) has fined crypto platform Bitpanda GmbH 70,000 euros ($81,150) for breaches of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, marking the regulator's first penalty under the new rules. The FMA stated that Bitpanda failed to submit a required crypto-asset white paper at least 20 working days before its publication. Additionally, the company circulated marketing communications before the white paper was published, and some communications omitted mandatory disclosures, such as a statement that regulators had not reviewed the document and that the provider was solely responsible for its contents. These communications also lacked a required telephone number and email address. Bitpanda stated that the regulator’s findings related exclusively to timing and formal specifications surrounding the publication of the whitepaper and an accompanying information document, emphasizing that customer funds and platform security were unaffected. The company said it corrected the issues after they were raised by the FMA and pursued a swift, consensual conclusion to the proceedings. MiCA aims to harmonize crypto-asset regulations across the EU.