Coinbase's Pursuit of Regulatory Clarity Shapes its Global Expansion Strategy
Coinbase Launches Innovative Crypto Lending Solution Targeting Institutional Investors
Coinbase Acquires Stake in Stablecoin Operator Circle; USDC Expands to Include 6 New Blockchains
Austrian-based cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform Bitpanda is joining forces with Coinbase (COIN) to facilitate the connection between the prominent U.S.-listed exchange and European banks interested in providing digital assets to their customers.
Coinbase has recently unveiled an exciting partnership with Bitpanda Technology Solutions, a prominent business-to-business infrastructure layer provider. This collaboration enables Coinbase to establish direct connections with banks and fintech companies, fostering greater accessibility and efficiency in their operations.
Despite the challenges faced during the bearish crypto winter and the negative impact on the reputation of the asset class due to last year's failures and controversies, there is a growing interest among banks to provide cryptocurrency offerings to their customers. BitPanda COO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad highlighted this trend, particularly in Europe, where the adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework has created a favorable environment for banks to engage in crypto-related services.
“Coinbase has a liquidity venue with their exchange and they have the custody setup,” Enzersdorfer-Konrad said in an interview with CoinDesk. “But they don’t have the whole infrastructure middle layer that a partner can integrate and offer crypto traded and bought on Coinbase exchange and stored on Coinbase Custody to their end customers.”
Bitpanda has successfully established crypto connectivity with several banks, neo-banks, and fintech platforms. This includes prominent institutions such as Raiffeisenlandesbank, an Austrian traditional lender, N26, a mobile bank operating in Europe, Lydia, a money app from France, Plum, a fintech company in the United Kingdom, and Hype, an Italian mobile bank.
“Banks can see the data on their payment transactions and how much of their customers’ funds have been flowing out to crypto companies,” Enzersdorfer-Konrad said. “They understand how much business they are missing out on, and also how much more of their customer base would do that business, if they had enough trust in the process.”
"[Coinbase is] delighted to partner with BitPanda to jointly service institutions looking to bring the market and their customers compliant, robust crypto services," said Guillaume Chatain, Coinbase’s head of Institutional Sales for EMEA & APAC regions, in a statement.
