Bitpanda makes first-ever acquisition to launch custody service in UK and EU

The digital assets investment platform will rebrand its new acquisition ‘Bitpanda Custody’.

Austrian fintech unicorn, Bitpanda, has closed its first-ever acquisition of London-based crypto custodian wallet provider, Trustology, with a view to offering custodian activities in the UK and EU.

UK-regulated Trustology – to be rebranded Bitpanda Custody – will initially take custody of Bitpanda’s own assets across its retail, institutional and whitelabelling businesses. Bitpanda claims this will make it one of the largest digital assets custody providers globally.

The company will now be able to perform custodian services in the UK, alongside its existing licences in the EU, and says it will use the partnership to expand its range of services.

“We can now provide retail customers with world-class institutional grade custody security,” said Eric Demuth, co-founder and CEO of Bitpanda. “Institutional clients will benefit from innovative custody solutions to not only overcome the challenges they face today, but also to thrive in the years to come.”

Trustology founder Alex Batlin was similarly enthusiastic about the union.

“Whether you are a service provider using our scalable, white-labelled high-performance wallet automation platform, a DeFi institutional investor using our bespoke integrations to access DApps […], or a token issuer looking to remove barriers to purchase – you’ll get wider crypto asset and jurisdictional support, higher insurance coverage, and SOC 2 certification to go along with a competitor-beating pricing model,” he said.

Bitpanda claims this is the first step in launching a prime brokerage offering under Bitpanda Pro – the company’s trading platform for experienced traders and professionals – to work alongside the digital asset exchange.

“We can now combine an FCA registered, institutional grade custody solution with a leading trade execution venue,” said Joshua Barraclough, CEO of Bitpanda Pro. “We have invested a lot in upgrading Bitpanda Pro exchange, as well as boosting our liquidity partnerships, so that we can compete with the largest exchanges on execution capabilities.”

Bitpanda Pro has also said it will commit to a “disruptive fee model” aimed at reducing the cost of custody to zero for customers who actively trade on the exchange.

“Now we are looking to massively increase our footprint and bring lots more clients to our venues,” Barraclough continued. “Importantly we are moving away from an asset under custody pricing model and are not penalising our clients’ growth.”

Founded in 2014 as a crypto trading company, Bitpanda has grown to over 700 employees across 10 offices and boasts more than three million users. Investors can now use the platform to buy commission-free fractional stocks, cryptocurrencies and precious metals, at sums starting as small as €1.