In a January 30 blog post from Bitpanda, the Austrian cryptocurrency exchange, the company announced the launch of Bitpanda Wealth, a new service for high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors, including family offices, corporate treasuries, and external asset managers.
The new institutional cryptocurrency trading platform is reportedly Bitpanda’s response to the growing demand for the service in Europe. Eric Demuth, the CEO of Bitpanda, described the European institutional cryptocurrency brokerage sector as “underserved.”
Additionally, the new institutional cryptocurrency service will look to offer high-volume trading services available to clients while making a wide range of virtual assets available to its peculiar demographic of users. The Bitpanda Wealth service will (also) offer stocks, ETFs, metals, and commodities clientele. That is in addition to crypto assets that users have come to expect from the crypto exchange.
This development almost coincides with the crypto firm’s exit from the Dutch market, citing its inability to meet regulatory demands as a reason for its decision. While the exchange will expectedly stop accepting new Dutch users from February 1, it still has a significant presence in Europe, holding at least 12 different licenses to countries in the region as of press time.
Bitpanda is aggressively marketing its new Bitpanda Wealth arm as a service for wealthy investors, recommending it only for (ultra) high net worth individuals. Bitpanda Wealth promises a series of advantages to investors, including over-the-counter (OTC) trading services, personalized engagements through dedicated relationship managers, integrated crypto wealth management, and tailored solutions to solve the individual unique problems of each client.
Signing up with the new service gives investors access to existing services, including staking, crypto trading, custody, and leverage trading services. Also, the company touts its 15 different licenses in the EU region to woo potential high-net-worth investors with its astounding level of regulatory compliance.
Unlike Bitpanda’s regular crypto exchange service, clients can’t sign up for Bitpanda Wealth by entering a bunch of information into a web form. Potential clients can choose from talking on a phone call, booking an appointment, or walking into the Bitpanda Wealth physical headquarters.
Bitpanda Appoints Nicolas Huber as VP
In the announcement accompanying its new crypto service for high net worth individuals and institutional investors, Bitpanda named Nicolas Huber, VP of Bitpanda Wealth, touting his decade of experience dealing with high net worth individuals as qualifying experience. According to Nicolas Huber’s LinkedIn profile, his career started as an Assistant Relationship Manager at UBP, a wealth management firm in Geneva. He rose to the rank of Relationship Manager in his four years at the company before joining Crypto Finance AG as a Relationship Manager.
After two years of working at Crypto Finance AG, Nicolas Huber moved to Bitcoin Suisse, the crypto investment firm, where he became Head of Family Offices, External Asset Managers, and High Net Worth Individuals. Nicolas Huber spent four years at Bitcoin Suisse before joining Bitpanda as VP of High Net Worth Individuals late last year.
With the latest development, the experienced account and relationship manager will be transitioning to a new role as VP of Bitpanda Wealth, a post expected to be significantly more challenging than his previous placement at the company.
What to Expect
Bitpanda’s EU everyday users should not expect any changes in their day-to-day usage of the crypto exchange. The crypto exchange is not targeting everyday enthusiasts or investors. Bitpanda users should still be able to log in, deposit, and trade their digital assets. However, we can expect Bitpanda to start subtly venturing into wealth management in the EU using its new Bitpanda Wealth arm. A Bitpanda Wealth page is available on Bitpanda’s official website, which is only the tip of the iceberg.
We expect Bitpanda to start running adverts targeting institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals in the coming months. The firm’s commitment will be critical, based on the traction and popularity of the solution. While Bitpanda is not transitioning away from offering conventional retail crypto exchanges, it’s undoubtedly expanding to include wealth management as part of its services.
