Bitpanda targets Europe’s tokenized finance business with blockchain launch

Bitpanda, a financial technology company based in Vienna, has launched Vision Chain, a blockchain network meant to connect regulated financial markets with digital asset technology. The move comes as the firm gets ready for a possible public offering later this year.

The network is aimed at banks, asset managers, fintech companies, and developers. It’s designed to help tokenize real-world assets across Europe. Vision Chain marks Bitpanda’s entry into blockchain infrastructure as it prepares for a potential stock market debut in 2026.

Vision Chain is a Layer-2 blockchain built on Ethereum. Bitpanda developed it with the Vision Web3 Foundation and blockchain provider Optimism. The network gives financial institutions a place to issue and settle tokenized assets while meeting regulatory requirements.

It follows European Union financial rules, including the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, and the Digital Operational Resilience Act. All fees on the network are paid using euro-backed stablecoins that meet regulations.

A Layer-2 blockchain sits on top of an existing blockchain, called Layer-1. For Vision Chain, that’s Ethereum. Transactions don’t settle directly on Ethereum. They get bundled on the Layer-2 level first, then sent to Ethereum in batches through what’s called a rollup.

This makes transactions much faster and cheaper than on Ethereum itself while keeping the security of the main chain. Existing Ethereum applications and smart contracts still work because Vision Chain uses the same technical standard.

Optimism, through its company OP Labs, built the OP Stack, an open-source foundation for creating Layer-2 networks on Ethereum. Vision Chain uses the OP Enterprise model, which handles chain operations, infrastructure management, and upgrades. This lets Bitpanda and the Vision Web3 Foundation work on product development instead of building blockchain infrastructure themselves.

But Optimism has its own problems. In March, OP Labs laid off 20% of its workers. CEO and co-founder Jing Wang said on X the company had no money troubles and had funding for several years, but wanted to sharpen its focus.

Coinbase, which ran its Base blockchain on Optimism, recently said it would drop the OP Stack for its own technology.

Vision Chain isn’t just for big institutions. Banks and issuers can use it to issue tokenized assets and stablecoins. Fintech companies get access to regulated crypto and real-world asset products for their users. Asset managers can build investment funds with secure custody and reporting. Developers can create apps and financial products. Regular investors can access opportunities that were previously only for professionals.

Bitpanda says it has over 7 million registered users who’ll get access to Vision Chain products through the platform.

The network handles tokenized real-world assets—traditional financial instruments turned into digital tokens on a blockchain. It supports stocks and bonds, real estate, stablecoins tied to regular currencies, investment funds, and other regulated instruments. Tokenized assets can be traded anytime, unlike traditional markets with set hours.

Vision Chain uses Ethereum-standard smart contracts and has identity verification built into the blockchain. Issuers can control how their tokens get transferred and used.

Vision token powers the ecosystem

The network has the Vision Token, issued by the Vision Web3 Foundation, which runs the ecosystem. Part of the network’s revenue buys back Vision tokens and takes them out of circulation. The idea is that more network activity helps the ecosystem’s value.

“Today we still talk about digital assets, but in the future virtually all assets will probably be digital. Tokenization will fundamentally transform capital markets,” said Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, Bitpanda’s CEO.

The launch comes as Bitpanda grows its institutional business. Earlier this month, the company introduced Bitpanda Enterprise, which combines institutional custody, trading liquidity, payment solutions, and asset tokenization tools for banks and financial firms.

Bitpanda reported €371 million in adjusted revenue for 2025, up 16% from the year before. Users grew 25% to 7.4 million registered accounts. The company has over 700 employees.

As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, Bitpanda is preparing for a possible IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the first half of 2026. The company is looking at a valuation between €4 billion and €5 billion. Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist behind Facebook and PayPal, is among its investors.