Vienna-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda has fundamentally expanded its platform, launching trading services for approximately 10,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Beginning January 29, 2026, the move marks a strategic pivot from a digital asset specialist to a "universal exchange," allowing users to trade traditional financial products alongside cryptocurrencies within a single application.
The company announced that trades in stocks and ETFs will be priced at a flat fee of 1 euro (approximately $1.17) per transaction, with no additional charges for order flow, custody, or withdrawals. A Bitpanda spokesperson confirmed to Cointelegraph that the offering will feature access to "real stocks"—as opposed to tokenized shares—and will be available across the entire European Union.
Eric Demuth, Chairman and Co-founder of Bitpanda, described the launch as the "next evolution" of the platform. "Eleven years ago, we made crypto simple and secure for everyone. Now comes the next evolution, for Bitpanda and for the financial market: for the first time, we’re bringing all markets and asset classes together in a single app," Demuth stated.
This expansion is part of a broader industry trend where leading centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs) are launching access to traditional finance (TradFi) investment products to attract a larger investor base. In April 2025, Kraken announced the launch of 11,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs with commission-free trading. Similarly, Coinbase launched stock trading at the end of 2025 and rebranded its wallet app as an "everything app," aiming to enable 24/7 trading of stocks, ETFs, and crypto assets.
Crypto research firm Delphi Digital has labeled this phenomenon the "super app" race, predicting an "aggregation era" for the crypto industry where value shifts from protocols to platforms with the most users and trading products. Bitpanda's move occurs within the evolving European regulatory context, requiring compliance with both crypto-specific regulations like MiCA and traditional securities laws like MiFID II.
