The Austrian Bitcoin platform 21bitcoin, operated by FIOR Digital GmbH, has become the first Bitcoin\u2011only company in Austria to obtain a European MiCAR licence. EY Law Austria advised the company throughout the licensing process as a Crypto\u2011Asset Service Provider (CASP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, 21bitcoin became the first Bitcoin company to welcome a German bank as a strategic investor. Today, with a trading volume of EUR 500 million and more than 100,000 customers, 21bitcoin ranks among the leading Bitcoin platforms in Europe. The company\u2019s mission is to make access to and use of Bitcoin as simple and secure as possible, while fully complying with the highest regulatory and compliance standards. This strategy is now being pursued at European level, explains Daniel Winklhammer<\/strong>, Founder and CEO of 21bitcoin: \u201cWith the MiCAR CASP licence, we are opening not only the European market, but also the traditional financial world to Bitcoin. Our aim is to position 21bitcoin as the first provider of a fully integrated Bitcoin financial ecosystem in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2026, 21bitcoin plans to selectively expand its product offering and develop next\u2011generation Bitcoin financial services. Planned initiatives include enabling Bitcoin purchases for corporate clients as well as Bitcoin\u2011backed lending solutions, to be implemented together with well\u2011established partners such as Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte and Sopra Financial Technology. In addition, 21bitcoin is developing new savings solutions tailored specifically to families and a white\u2011label platform that will allow banks and financial institutions to offer Bitcoin services with minimal implementation effort. Through these initiatives, 21bitcoin is increasingly evolving into a comprehensive Bitcoin\u2011focused financial services provider, creating an integrated ecosystem for private clients, corporates and financial institutions. EY Law Austria will continue to support 21bitcoin with ongoing legal advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vienna is increasingly establishing itself as a leading European hub for crypto service providers. This development is driven by a clear and reliable regulatory framework, created through the early and consistent implementation of the EU\u2019s MiCAR <\/strong>Regulation. The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) provides transparent conditions that ensure consumer protection while also enabling sustainable growth for providers. \u201cVienna\u2019s emergence as a crypto hub shows how a clearly defined and consistently applied regulatory framework can serve as a powerful driver of innovation. We are particularly pleased to have supported an Austrian company such as 21bitcoin <\/strong>in successfully obtaining MiCAR authorisation,\u201d says Dr Martin Hanzl<\/strong>, Partner at EY Law and Head of the NewTech Team. Dr Elisabeth Reiner and Paul Neubauer also supported 21bitcoin throughout the licensing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Led by Martin Hanzl, EY Law\u2019s NewTech Team advises numerous well\u2011known FinTech companies as well as international crypto exchanges. With a strong focus on blockchain, crypto\u2011assets and artificial intelligence, as well as on the implementation of MiCAR, DORA, the AI Act and the Data Act<\/strong>, the team supports innovation\u2011driven companies in developing their business models in a legally compliant manner. The team\u2019s expertise has been recognised by multiple awards, including its ranking as the only Austrian practice in Band 1 of the Chambers FinTech Guide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Austrian Bitcoin platform 21bitcoin, operated by FIOR Digital GmbH, has become the first Bitcoin\u2011only company in Austria to obtain a European MiCAR licence. EY Law Austria advised the company throughout the licensing process as a Crypto\u2011Asset Service Provider (CASP). 21bitcoin continues its growth trajectory In 2023, 21bitcoin became the first Bitcoin company to welcome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":11860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deals-en","category-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11857"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11862,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857\/revisions\/11862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eylaw.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Vienna emerging as a European crypto hub<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A strong partner for digital transformation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n