Raiffeisen Bank International has partnered with Bitpanda Enterprise to develop a digital assets architecture covering Central and Eastern Europe. The framework gives network banks a route to potentially offer crypto services to 18 million customers.
What Does the RBI Bitpanda Partnership Offer Banks?
According to a report, the RBI Bitpanda collaboration grants Raiffeisen Group banks joint use of the Bitpanda digital assets infrastructure, which is flexible and scalable.
Bitpanda confirmed that each Raiffeisen bank retains discretion to select specific offerings based on regulatory requirements, local demand, and business priorities.
The collaboration builds on the proven success of Bitpanda’s technology and platform integration within Raiffeisen Austrian banks, wherein customers interact with cryptocurrency using existing bank account infrastructure.
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The structure preserves the bank as the primary point of contact with customers. Users are able to use digital asset services without having to open an account with an external digital asset exchange.
RBI has subsidiaries in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The group has over 18 million customers, employs approximately 42,000, and operates almost 1,300 business locations.
Therefore, the RBI Bitpanda partnership has greater potential scope compared to prior integrations solely within Austria with specific Austrian banks. Nonetheless, there is no uniform roll-out schedule agreed upon by this partnership.
How Raiffeisen Expanded Its Bitpanda Banking Model
The collaboration between Raiffeisen and Bitpanda emerged via its subsidiary Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien).
This Austrian financial services corporation is one of the earliest established European Union banks to integrate cryptocurrencies into its existing banking ecosystem.
Bitpanda delivered the technological infrastructure for this product offering, wherein customers gained exposure to digital currencies using their banking institutions’ portals as single sign-on points.
Other Raiffeisen banks later adopted the same model. In June, Raiffeisen Landesbank Tirol launched a digital asset service powered by Bitpanda Enterprise.
The RBI Bitpanda partnership expands upon Bitpanda’s prior partnership in Austria with an additional participating bank. The collaboration provides banks with a unified infrastructure model, which can be leveraged when launching digital asset offerings.
Bitpanda Enterprise offers trading infrastructure, custodial services, liquidity provision, payment solutions, stablecoin issuance, and tokenization capabilities. Such services may facilitate the development of various digital assets via existing bank infrastructures.
The platform integrates seamlessly with existing banking financial service offerings, thus enabling institutions to expand into cryptocurrencies without constructing an entire digital asset ecosystem from the ground up.
What Is Driving Bitpanda’s Institutional Expansion?
This development is set against the backdrop of Bitpanda expanding its offerings towards the institutional end of its client base within Europe.
Earlier in September, Bitpanda Enterprise announced its partnership with BW-Bank for the incorporation of digital asset capabilities alongside its traditional banking services.
Bitpanda has also partnered with leading financial institutions, such as IG Europe. The company was selected by IG Europe in May as the provider of liquidity, market data, and trading connectivity.
The Austrian business has been in a partnership with Deutsche Bank since 2024. Initially, the cooperation allowed German Bitpanda users access to local IBANs and real-time payment infrastructure, and then Deutsche Bank started working on plans for Bitcoin and Ethereum custody.
In 2025, Bitpanda achieved revenue of €371M, representing a 16% increase from the previous year. The company grew both retail products and white label services, and its user base grew to 7.4 million.
The growth is a sign of Bitpanda’s overall strategy to expand into institutional infrastructure in addition to its consumer operations. The company has been increasingly marketing itself as a technology solution for banks and financial institutions entering the digital assets space.
How European Banks Are Expanding Regulated Crypto Services
The framework emerges against a backdrop of growing involvement of traditional banks within the regulated cryptocurrency market of the European Union.
Traditional banks accounted for nearly 23% of firms listed on the ESMA Crypto Assets Register as of Sept. 16, after their number more than doubled from about 40 in late June to around 80. The total number of registered crypto providers increased from 243 to 349 in this time frame.
German cooperative banks featured prominently amongst this expansion too. A further six cooperatives were added in August, bringing the total number of registered German crypto asset service providers up to 79.
EU legislative provisions grant banks access via another avenue under MiCA. Banks are entitled to offer covered crypto services by providing certain data to their home regulator, under Title IV of MiCA Chapter VI.
The companies dealing in crypto must be authorized as crypto asset service providers. The rules add crypto activities such as custodian wallet providers, crypto transfers, trading execution services, crypto portfolio management services, and conversions of crypto-assets into funds, subject to permission granted.
The RBI Bitpanda partnership facilitates the provision of such services by Bitpanda Partner banks, using the technological infrastructure developed by Bitpanda. Each individual bank’s regulatory capacity and operational jurisdiction shall determine its product scope.
When Will RBI Banks Launch Crypto Services?
RBI has not fixed any rollout schedule for the network. The timing for service launch and the mix of products will be left to the discretion of each participating bank, based on their local market.
Not every subsidiary is required to adopt the same products or the same product launch timing for the RBI Bitpanda partnership. Therefore, the availability of services may vary from one of RBI’s 11 Central and Eastern European markets to another.
Each rollout will be influenced by local regulation, customer demand, and operational needs. Bitpanda is compliant with the MiCA legislation in Europe and continues to deliver digital asset infrastructure to financial institutions.
The company has also been targeted by regulators during the implementation of MiCA regulations in Europe. In August 2026, the Financial Market Authority of Austria issued a fine of €70,000 for violations related to crypto asset white papers and marketing requirements against Bitpanda.
The case was resolved through an expedited procedure and became Austria’s first publicly disclosed final penalty under MiCA. Under the RBI Bitpanda partnership, each participating bank will retain control over which digital asset products it chooses to offer.
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