Bitpanda Fined EUR 70,000 in Austria's First Published MiCAR Case

Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA) fined Bitpanda GmbH EUR 70,000 (about $81,000) for several breaches of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). The regulator disclosed the final decision Friday.

The FMA called it the first legally binding MiCAR penalty decision it has published. That wording does not establish that Bitpanda received the first MiCAR fine in the European Union.

The penalty concerns what happened after authorization: the timing and content of disclosures for a crypto-asset. It does not concern the custody of customer assets or access to withdrawals.

White Paper Arrived After the Deadline

Bitpanda did not send the crypto-asset white paper to the FMA at least 20 working days before publishing it, according to the sanction notice. The regulator cited Article 8 of MiCAR.

The company also distributed a marketing communication before publishing the required white paper, the FMA said.

The marketing material omitted the required statement that no European Union authority had reviewed or approved it and that the offeror was solely responsible for its content. It also lacked a telephone number and email address.

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