Bitpanda co-CEO Christian Trummer says the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, known as MiCA, is changing how retail users choose where to hold crypto, with more customers favoring regulated platforms over non-compliant alternatives.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Trummer said MiCA has boosted retail confidence in licensed exchanges. He also described a notable shift among regular customers toward the convenience and security of licensed custodians over self-custody.
Compliance as a competitive issue
Trummer called for tighter oversight of non-compliant firms that continue operating inside the EU, framing the issue as a competitive matter that benefits exchanges which completed licensing work, including Bitpanda. He said non-compliant exchanges may face pressure to limit their European operations as MiCA enforcement becomes stricter.
The timing of his comments follows the end of MiCA’s grandfathering period, a grace window that allowed existing crypto providers to keep serving customers while they secured authorization. That window ended no later than July 1, 2026, after which the enforcement phase began.
The European Securities and Markets Authority has urged national regulators to act against unauthorized operators. It has also pushed for stronger measures against third-country entities that target EU users from outside the bloc.
Bitpanda points to its licenses
Bitpanda received MiCA authorization from Germany’s BaFin in January 2025 and from Austria’s FMA in April 2025. Together, those approvals let the company operate across the European Economic Area. Bitpanda says it holds all necessary MiCA authorizations for its services and counts more than 7 million registered users.
Trummer returned as co-CEO on September 15, 2026, as the post-grandfathering enforcement period got underway. He has said his priorities since returning are product quality and infrastructure improvements for that user base.
What it means for exchanges and users
The most immediate implication is competitive. If enforcement against unauthorized firms intensifies as ESMA has urged, users of non-compliant platforms could find those services restricted or unavailable in their country.
For exchanges that did not invest in compliance, the options narrow: pursue authorization, scale back European operations, or risk running into national regulators who now have explicit encouragement from ESMA to act. Trummer’s public call for stricter oversight reflects that a rulebook only creates a competitive edge for compliant firms if it is enforced against everyone else.
His comments also add a new data point to the long-running self-custody debate: whether crypto’s future is built on users holding their own keys or on regulated intermediaries holding them on users’ behalf. Trummer’s observation is that ordinary customers, when given a regulated option, are increasingly choosing it. A licensed custodian saying customers prefer licensed custodians may well be accurate, but Bitpanda clearly benefits from it being true.
