Vienna is establishing itself as Europe’s crypto hotspot

By the end of 2025, it granted eight approvals to providers of crypto asset services (CASPs), and the ninth has now already gone through the process. “We have 92 approved CASPs across Europe – that means ten percent are in Austria,” explains FMA board member Mariana Kühnel. Particularly noteworthy: Bybit and KuCoin, two of the world’s top ten crypto exchanges, have set up shop in Vienna. The size of the supervised sector includes 6.7 million registered users. Around a million users traded actively in 2025. The assets in custody reached an equivalent value of 4.4 billion euros. The transaction volume amounted to over 17 billion euros. It is also a fact: only 18 percent of customers come from Austria, a quarter from Germany and 17 percent from France. The demographics are striking: 64 percent of users are under 40 years old.

“Above all, we want to have providers in Vienna who see compliance not as a nice-to-have, but as a strategic success factor,” says Kühnel. The authority has the same requirements as other financial sectors: sustainable governance structures, clear responsibilities, adequate capital and effective risk management. At the European level, the FMA is pushing forward an initiative with its Italian and French sister authorities so that the major crypto exchanges will in future be monitored by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Way into the debt trap

Meanwhile, the rapid increase in consumer loans in Austria is causing the FMA to become increasingly concerned. In particular, the area of ​​“hire purchases” and so-called “buy now, pay later” offers are at the center of a worrying development, according to FMA board member Helmut Ettl. Consumers can now buy electronics, fashion and lifestyle products on credit “with one click on their cell phone” – a function that can have fatal consequences. “It’s not far from a click to debt advice,” warns Ettl. The numbers speak for themselves: at the end of 2025, consumer loans in Austria amounted to 22.5 billion euros – an increase of 14 percent. Particularly problematic: The interest rates in this segment are very high, and late payments quickly result in additional fees that accelerate the debt spiral.

In response to this development, the National Council amended the Consumer Credit Act at the end of May 2026; the change will come into force in November. This gives the FMA expanded powers: in future it will be able to monitor lending from the perspective of collective consumer protection. The FMA is also concerned about the financing of commercial real estate by banks. The number of non-performing real estate loans in relation to total loans is said to have increased from one percent to eight percent.