Austria-based cryptocurrency exchange, Bitpanda has upgraded its local license, now gaining the status of an investment firm approved by the country’s financial regulator, Finanzmarktaufsicht (FMA).

Monday’s regulatory announcement detailed that the digital currency exchange is now authorized to receive and transmit orders on a commercial basis in relation to financial instruments. Earlier, the crypto exchange was operating with its electronic payments services (PSD2) license acquired from the Austrian regulator in April 2019.

Founded in 2014, BitPanda is a retail broker for digital assets, including more than 30 cryptocurrencies. The company claims to have onboarded 1.2 million users and plans to expand into real-world assets to build out a pan-European offering, with the expansion already starting in France, Spain and Turkey.

“We plan to keep on growing in more European countries during this year and, in 2021, bring financial empowerment across borders and secure a new sense of financial culture,” Bitpanda’s Co-founder and CEO, Eric Demuth said earlier.

Strengthening Regulated Services in Europe

Bitpanda gained the new license only a couple of months after registering its services in France with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Finance Magnates reported earlier. That allowed the company to offer regulated services as a French digital asset service provider (DASP).

Additionally, the startup is well-funded, raising more than $100 million in funds over the years, according to Crunchbase. It secured $52 million before closing its Series A funding round last September, which was led by billionaire Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.

Meanwhile, the company is expanding its services beyond crypto trading and launched a VISA-enabled cryptocurrency debit card for day-to-day payments.