Raiffeisen Extends Bitpanda Tie-Up to Bring Bitcoin to 18 Million Clients Across CEE

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), Austria's second-largest bank by total assets at 210,000 million euros, has expanded its partnership with exchange Bitpanda to roll out bitcoin and other cryptocurrency services across 11 Central and Eastern European markets. The expansion was announced on September 23.

The agreement covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Kosovo, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. Five of these markets are within the European Union. RBI has said the initiative could eventually reach around 18 million clients.

Bitpanda Enterprise will supply the technical infrastructure behind the offering, covering investment, liquidity, custody, payments, stablecoins and tokenization.

Michael Höllerer, chief executive of RBI, said the bank was responding to rising client interest in digital assets. "As a customer-focused bank, we are committed to meeting our clients' needs in the best possible way. We are seeing growing demand for crypto assets in our markets, which we are addressing with a strong and reputable partner," he said.

Banks moving into crypto under MiCA

The move fits a broader pattern of European banks entering crypto services as the bloc's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation beds in. According to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the number of banks registered as crypto service providers roughly doubled between June 26 and September 16, rising from about 40 to about 80.

Over the same period, the total number of regulated crypto service providers in the EU climbed from 243 to 349 firms. Banks' share of that total rose from 17% to almost 23%, while non-bank companies' share fell to 77%.

Other lenders are making similar moves. Banca Sella became the first Italian bank to complete notification to Banca d'Italia for custody and the sending and receiving of digital assets under MiCA. Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, has said it plans to launch a bitcoin custody service for institutional and corporate clients in Europe this year.

The RBI-Bitpanda expansion underscores how traditional banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe are positioning themselves to capture crypto demand that has so far been served largely by dedicated exchanges and non-bank platforms, now operating within a common EU regulatory framework that is drawing more established financial institutions into the market.