Message from the founders - Bitpanda’s response to the collapse of FTX

The crypto industry is made up of innovators. It attracts people who believe that technology has the power to change the world. It attracts people who want to build new businesses with that technology. It also attracts people who are willing to play fast and loose with the rules and with common sense to present themselves as a parody of what they think a crypto pioneer should be.

They are happy to tap into our passion, into our vision and into our belief in a tech driven society. They are happy to build crypto related products as long as they can cut corners and maximise their own profit. They don’t understand, or don’t care, about the ideals, principles or vision that make crypto what it is. But, in the eyes of many, they are the same as we are. When they fail, we all suffer.

FTX’s collapse is going to hurt - a lot. It’s going to hurt investors. It’s going to hurt legitimate crypto businesses. It’s going to hurt now, and it’s going to hurt for a long time. I hope this is a wake up call for our industry and people who to trust your money with. I hope that we can remember this moment, and decide that we are done with people pretending to be legitimate spokespeople for our industry. No more unregulated wild west style companies built on steroids that try to artificially inflate themselves by gambling with your funds.

There are so many great businesses that are real examples of what we as an industry are capable of. Businesses that do care, that do follow the rules, that do genuinely put the interests of their customers first. We need to start putting them forward as our face and as our voice.

Crypto investors. Stop trusting bullshit, stop trusting bling, and stop following the hype. This isn’t a game, it’s your money. Stop letting these people get away with it. Pick a business you know, pick a business you trust, pick a business that is regulated, better yet pick one that is locally regulated.

You wouldn’t get your paycheck put into a bank based in the Bahamas, so stop storing your assets there. And most importantly, do not invest in an exchange where funds and assets are not fully separated and accessible 100% of the time. We are legally obliged to do this because we have chosen to acquire licences that see us monitored by multiple financial market authorities. These choices made it more expensive for us to operate as a business, but we made them for the same reason we make all of our business decisions - it was the right thing to do. You wouldn’t take these risks with any other financial institution, do not accept it for your investments.

We founded Bitpanda because we believe in digital assets. We know they have a central role to play in the future of finance. We are the most regulated platform in Europe, with the most licences, our infrastructure is stable and we are offering it to other fintechs and banks. Our user funds are secure and we remain online. We are here if you need us. We will get through this. We are in it for the long run!

Yours sincerely,

Eric, Paul & Christian

Bitpanda Founders