Bitcoin [BTC]: Cryptocurrency retail broker, Bitpanda gains Payment Service Provider license

Bitpanda, a leading retail broker for buying and selling cryptocurrencies in Europe, announced the receipt of a Payment Service Provider license, via an official blog post.

The retail broker also broke the news on Twitter, stating,

“We’re excited to announce Bitpanda has been granted a European PSD2 payment service provider license! What does that mean? We can launch new and innovative features we’ve been planning […]”

Bitpanda will be one of the few platforms in the cryptocurrency space to receive the payment service provider license, issued by the Australian financial market authority [FMA], according to the European PSD2 law.

PSD2 here, stands for Payment Services Directive 2, a directive by the European Union which is supervised by the European Commission. This directive regulates all payment services and payment service providers throughout the European Union and European Economic Area [EEA].

The main purpose of this directive is to increase participation and competition among European Union members in the payments system. This is achieved by allowing banks and non-banks to actively take part in the European payments market, while ensuring customers’ rights and protections.

The platform considered this approval a “significant milestone,” as it would enable them to launch “exciting features and products.” Further, the license would also allow the company to diversify its business model, which in turn, would play a key role in achieving their goal of connecting traditional finance with “the new finance world.”

DecFromBitpanda on Reddit stated,

“What does this mean for us and the industry? Well, we are one of the few European cryptocurrency fintechs to receive such a license and it allows us to offer even more innovative products and services – we can begin to connect the world of cryptocurrency and payments.”