Some of the European Union’s largest banks are looking to enter the crypto industry as a result of clarity offered by the bloc’s adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, the deputy CEO of Bitpanda, told Cointelegraph:“European banks are moving into crypto as an asset class and tokenization technology because MiCA, the upcoming regulatory framework for Europe, is suddenly bringing full clarity for banks.”In May 2023, the European Council adopted the first comprehensive legal framework for the crypto industry. The MiCA framework aims to protect investors through more rigorous transparency standards and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules.Thanks to gaining regulatory clarity for the first time, European banks are more confident in developing crypto services but lack the technical knowledge and infrastructure, which is why they are tapping crypto services providers such as Bitpanda. According to Enzersdorfer-Konrad:“Suddenly [banks] are realizing that they do not have the technical expertise, the knowledge internally because they didn’t have time and investment to build it up, but suddenly they want something to go to market with.”Raiffeisen, the largest community banking group in Austria, has partnered with Bitpanda to offer digital asset services to retail banking customers, while other major banks are looking to develop corporate crypto services.
