Bitpanda is one of the biggest names that come up when looking for reputable exchanges to buy cryptocurrencies. In this post, we will review the company’s service and what makes them good.
Bitpanda Review Summary
Bitpanda is a cryptocurrency broker that specializes in buying and selling Bitcoins within the Eurozone. The company was founded in late 2014 and has since grown to become one of the more popular options to purchase Bitcoins around Europe. If you leave inside the EU it’s one of the cheapest ways to buy Bitcoin with a credit card or SEPA transfer.
Bitpanda Overview
Bitpanda GmbH (formerly known as Coinimal) is a fintech company based in Vienna, Austria specialises in selling and buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It has quickly grown to become Europe’s leading retail broker for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and more. With over 900K users the company has recently expanded its services to allow users to invest in precious metals (gold, silver) as well.
Bitpanda Services
Bitpanda offers a brokerage service which enables its customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Basically, this means Bitpanda supplies you with the coins directly, unlike a trading platform where you interact with other traders. The company charges a premium above market price for their services.
Bitpanda To Go offers the ability to buy cryptocurrency with cash through their “service”. This service allows you to purchase cash-equivalent coupon codes in post offices around Austria, and later redeem those codes on Bitpanda for purchasing cryptocurrencies.
Bitpanda Savings allows you to commit a certain amount each month and create a savings plan by buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Bitpanda Metals allows you to diversify your portfolio with physically backed and 100% insured precious metals. You can also swap gold and silver with any other digital asset on Bitpanda. Bitpanda Swap allows you to instantly swap one cryptocurrency for another.
There are no limits on the transaction size of swaps. Bitpanda Plus allows high net worth individuals to buy large amounts of Bitcoin or other cryptos with better terms than the regular platform. Bitpanda Pay allows you to connect your account to the traditional fiat world including paying your rent or sending money to friends.
Bitpanda Pro offers a full order book style trading exchange for advanced cryptocurrency users to trade and connect APIs. Bitpanda Token (BEST) is a Bitpanda ecosystem token providing customers with better rates on trading and functionality across its platform, similar to Binance Coin.
Finally, the Bitpanda team has launched an ICO backed project called Pantos (PAN) which aims to be an open-source, open-innovation driven scientific research project. However, this project is outside the scope of this review (more information can be found here).
Bitpanda Currencies and Payment Methods
Bitpanda supports the buying and selling of the following cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- IOTA (MIOTA)
- EOS (EOS)
- Dash (DASH)
- Stellar (XLM)
- Zcash (ZEC)
- NEM (XEM)
- Augur (REP)
- 0x (ZRX)
- Tezos (XTZ)
- OmiseGO (OMG)
- Komodo (KMD)
- Pantos (PAN)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Neo (NEO)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Waves (WAVES)
- Tether (USDT)
- USD Coin (USDC)
- Lisk (LSK)
- Tron (TRN)
- Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Bitpanda accepts the following fiat currencies:
- US dollar (USD)
- Euro (EUR)
- British Pound (GBP)
- Swiss franc CHF
Bitpanda accepts the following payment methods:
- Credit card Debit card
- SEPA
- Bank transfer
- EPS
- GiroPay
- Sofort
- Neteller
- Skrill
- Cash (Bitpanda on the go)
- iDEAL
- Zimpler
Keep in mind that different payment methods have different fees incorporated within them, so make sure to double-check before completing a deposit. Usually, the chargeback methods such as credit cards and Skrill will have higher fees than non-chargeback methods such as a wire transfer.
Bitpanda Fees
Transaction Fees
Bitpanda fees for buying and selling cryptocurrencies are 1.49%. However, fees are already incorporated into the price in real time so they are somewhat invisible to the user.
This is good since you know exactly how much you’ll pay. On the other hand, it sometimes distorts the real price of the cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency Deposit Fees
If you deposit money in a currency that is not in the supported currencies you will be charged a conversion fee by the processing bank (this changes depending on the currency). All fees for all currencies are detailed here.
Fiat Deposit Fees
These fees were shared with us by Bitpand’s support, however this cannot be found anywhere online:
Bitpanda Buying Limits
Bitpanda offers very low limits for unverified users as it complies with standard AML policies. However, verified users have extremely high limits depending on their payment method.
For example, verified users can withdraw over €5 million a day via a SEPA transfer. Obviously, limits differ between deposit and withdrawal. Fiat deposits can’t be made at all for unverified users.
Cryptocurrencies aren’t limited in deposit / withdrawal. All limits for different payment methods can be found here.
Bitpanda supported countries
Bitpanda is open to all users worldwide however some operations are limited. Buying cryptocurrencies is currently only available for EU residents that are within the SEPA.
This means most of the EU members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco. Users outside the EU can use their accounts to store and send crypto.
They can also sell cryptocurrency or receive payouts via Neteller. Additionally, Bitpanda Pro is now available worldwide to trade cryptocurrencies except for the USA or China.
Conclusion — Is Bitpanda Safe?
Bitpanda is a good mix of a reputable company, fast service and a cheap alternative to other cryptocurrency exchanges out there. The team seems to have built a good reputation within the community since the company was founded in 2014 and it’s very refreshing to find an exchange with such positive customer feedback.
Bitpanda is a very safe option for newbies and experienced bitcoiners alike. The main downside being the fact that they don’t support enough countries.
If you’ve had your own experience (good or bad) with Bitpanda, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
