Bitpanda CEO: EU Crypto Users Trust MiCA-Regulated Firms More

Bitpanda co-CEO Christian Trummer has stated that European crypto users are placing greater confidence in regulated platforms following the implementation of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Speaking on Cointelegraph's Chain Reaction podcast, Trummer said most users have "more faith" in regulated market participants since MiCA took effect, contrasting this sentiment with what he described as a "Crypto Twitter" bubble focused on self-custody and private key management. According to Trummer, the average European user strongly prefers regulated providers over the responsibility of managing their own digital assets.

However, Trummer warned that uneven enforcement is undermining the framework's effectiveness and placing compliant firms at a competitive disadvantage. He noted that some companies continue to serve customers across the European Union without holding a MiCA license, arguing that regulators must act decisively to close this gap. "The problem there definitely is that it's not strictly enforced by the regulators, because there are still other players on the market which offer the service to European customers and they don't comply to the MiCA license," Trummer said.

MiCA's grandfathering period for legacy crypto service providers concluded no later than July 1, 2026, with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) directing national regulators to pursue action against unauthorized firms still operating past their transition deadlines. ESMA has subsequently called for expanded supervisory powers to crack down on unauthorized crypto services and third-country firms soliciting EU investors without proper MiCA authorization. Austria-based Bitpanda, one of Europe's largest retail crypto exchanges, has positioned itself as a fully compliant operator under the new framework, making Trummer's enforcement calls closely aligned with the company's strategic interests.