Bitpanda just became the main technology behind one of Central and Eastern Europe’s biggest banking networks. RBI serves around 18 million customers across the region, giving Bitpanda a potential reach of 18 million users under the new collaboration.
Raiffeisen Bank International and Bitpanda Enterprise have agreed on a framework that could eventually bring crypto into RBI’s banking apps across the region. What they haven't said is when that happens, or which market gets it first. Bitpanda was clear about that in its own announcement. Individual RBI banks can add digital assets when the timing makes sense for their particular market.
And this isn’t RBI’s first attempt at the collaboration. Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien started testing the setup in 2024, integrating Bitpanda’s backend directly into its Mein ELBA app. Customers could buy crypto right from their usual banking app, without having to jump over to a separate crypto platform.
The rollout has since been gradual. Tyrol came on board in May 2026, following earlier launches in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. Rather than launching across all 11 markets at once, the two companies have been building this one piece at a time getting the system into real banks and in front of real customers before talking about its much bigger regional reach.
Höllerer previously ran RLB NÖ-Wien, the same subsidiary that piloted Bitpanda’s technology years ago. So the executive now shaping RBI’s group-wide strategy has already seen this model in practice from the inside. It’s also one of the first major moves since he took over, with RBI expected to lay out more of its broader strategy later this month.
For Bitpanda, the deal is less a new experiment than an expansion of something it already knows how to do. The Vienna-based company has a similar white-label setup with Germany’s N26, where its infrastructure sits behind the bank’s crypto offering. The RBI agreement is different in scale, though. It covers 11 markets under one framework, with each individual market still operating under its own regulatory rules, from Slovakia to Bosnia.
Crypto commentator @WuBlockchain picked up on the announcement on X shortly after it broke, describing it as a sign that CEE banks are moving beyond small pilot programs toward broader crypto infrastructure. Whether that change sticks remains to be seen, but that part of the deal is arguably more interesting than the headline 18 million customer figure.