Bitpanda fined €70,000 in Austria’s first published MiCA enforcement case

Austria’s Financial Market Authority fined Bitpanda GmbH 70,000 euros ($81,150) for breaches of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in the regulator’s first penalty over the rules.

The FMA said Bitpanda failed to submit a cryptocurrency white paper at least 20 working days before publishing it. The regulator did not identify the cryptocurrency involved.

Bitpanda also circulated a marketing communication before publishing the required white paper. Another communication omitted a statement that regulators had not reviewed or approved the document and that the provider was solely responsible for its contents, as well as a telephone number and email address.

The firm told CoinDesk in an emailed statement the regulator’s findings “related exclusively to timing and formal specifications surrounding the publication of the whitepaper and an accompanying information document.”

“For the token launch in question, we prepared a comprehensive whitepaper in accordance with MiCAR requirements, submitted it to the FMA, and continuously coordinated the entire process with the authority,” Bitpanda said. “The points cited related exclusively to timing and formal specifications surrounding the publication of the whitepaper and an accompanying information document.”

The white paper was submitted early last year, the firm told CoinDesk.