TL;DR
- Bitpanda will provide digital asset infrastructure to banks in the RBI network, with a potential reach of 18 million customers across Europe.
- Raiffeisen Bank International will expand its crypto services across 11 European markets through a group-level alliance with the Austrian platform.
- The partnership builds on an integration launched in 2024 with Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien in Austria.
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), the Austrian banking group operating across Central and Eastern Europe, announced a group-wide alliance with Bitpanda to expand access to digital asset services across 11 European markets.
According to the joint statement, Bitpanda Enterprise will provide the technological infrastructure that banks within the RBI network will need to launch their own cryptocurrency offerings, with a potential reach of approximately 18 million customers.
Each member bank in the network will independently define its own proposal and implementation timeline, based on local regulatory and market requirements. A Bitpanda spokesperson confirmed that the rollout is at an early stage and will proceed gradually, without specifying which markets will be onboarded first.
Bitpanda Brings Crypto Infrastructure to Traditional Banking
Michael Höllerer, CEO of RBI, justified the decision by pointing to the growing demand for digital assets among the group’s customers. “As a customer-oriented bank, we are committed to meeting their needs in the best way possible,” he stated. The alliance also stems from an integration launched in 2024 with Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien, which served as a pilot within the Raiffeisen ecosystem in Austria.
Bitpanda operates under authorization from the European Union’s MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) framework, which allows it to offer cryptocurrency brokerage services across the bloc under a unified regulatory structure. The company indicated that it maintains frequent conversations with banks and financial institutions interested in digital asset brokerage services, though it declined to comment on any ongoing or confidential negotiations.
The integration between traditional banking and native crypto infrastructure continues to grow across Europe as MiCA establishes a more predictable regulatory environment.
