CoinDesk
London-listed trading platform IG will use Bitpanda's crypto infrastructure — liquidity, connectivity and market data — to bring spot crypto trading to its European client base, the companies said Thursday. The move extends a digital-asset offering IG first launched for UK retail customers roughly a year ago, and effectively hands the European rollout to a MiCA-licensed venue rather than IG building the stack in-house.
IG reported £331.2 million ($445 million) in first-quarter revenue, of which spot crypto contributed just £2.4 million ($3.2 million) — a sliver of the top line, but the segment is barely twelve months old. The platform, which popularised financial spread betting in the UK in the early 1970s, counts 1.3 million clients globally across equities, FX, commodities and derivatives.
Why it matters
Bitpanda is regulated in Austria and holds MiCA authorisations in Germany and Malta, giving IG a passported route into EU markets without having to chase licences jurisdiction by jurisdiction. For a TradFi incumbent weighing a multi-country digital-asset rollout, that regulatory scaffolding is the hardest piece to replicate — and the most common reason European brokerages have been slow to ship crypto beyond the UK.
The partnership is also a validation beat for Bitpanda's B2B infrastructure business. Beyond serving its own retail base, the Vienna-based exchange increasingly sells its regulated rails to incumbents who want crypto exposure on their own platforms without the licensing overhead.
Market impact
IG's UK crypto revenue is still small relative to its overall book, so the read-through to Bitpanda's volumes is limited in the near term. The bigger signal is structural: a 1.3-million-client TradFi brand committing to a MiCA-licensed European venue, rather than a third-country affiliate, narrows the field of credible crypto-trading partners for other EU brokerages evaluating similar rollouts. Watch whether IG reports a step-up in crypto-attributable revenue when it prints H1 results, and whether a second European brokerage names a Bitpanda-class partner before year-end.
Frequently asked questions
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What did IG and Bitpanda announce?
London-listed IG will use Bitpanda's crypto infrastructure — liquidity, trading connectivity and market data — to bring spot crypto trading to its European client base, the companies said Thursday. The move extends a digital-asset offering IG first launched for UK retail customers about a year ago.
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Why did IG pick Bitpanda for the European rollout?
Bitpanda is regulated in Austria and holds MiCA authorisations in Germany and Malta, giving IG a passported route into EU markets. Building those licences in-house, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, is the hardest piece of a multi-country European crypto rollout — and the most common reason other brokerages have been slow…
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How big is IG's crypto business today?
IG reported £2.4 million ($3.2 million) in spot crypto revenue in the first quarter, out of £331.2 million ($445 million) in total group revenue. The segment is barely a year old, so the absolute figure is small but the growth runway from a 1.3-million-client TradFi base is what makes the expansion meaningful.
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How many clients does IG have and what does it offer?
IG has 1.3 million clients globally. The platform offers equities, foreign exchange, commodities and derivatives, and popularised financial spread betting in the UK in the early 1970s. It is listed in London under the ticker IGG.
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What is the market impact of the IG-Bitpanda partnership?
The near-term volume impact on Bitpanda is limited because IG's UK crypto revenue is still small. The bigger signal is structural: a major TradFi brand committing to a MiCA-licensed European venue rather than a third-country affiliate narrows the field of credible partners for other EU brokerages evaluating similar…
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