Bitget appointed former Bitpanda legal chief and ex‑KuCoin EU head Oliver Stauber as CEO of its new EU unit to lead its Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation expansion and set up a Vienna headquarters. The Vienna entity applied for a MiCA license in Austria in 2025 and expects regulatory approval in the second quarter of 2026.
Bitget EU will not offer services to European Economic Area residents until authorization is granted (Ed. note: EEA access is blocked until the license is granted). The firm said it will ring‑fence EEA users using IP detection and enhanced Know Your Customer controls to prevent geographic workarounds.
“Oliver’s appointment builds our confidence in Bitget’s long-term presence in Europe,” said Gracy Chen, adding he brought “regulatory fluency and operational discipline needed.”
Oliver Stauber said, “We are currently conducting a rigorous audit of our inventory,” and that “Products that do not meet EU standards for market integrity or fail to provide sufficient consumer disclosures will not be offered to EEA users.”
The new EU arm will use a broker model and act as counterparty to client trades while sourcing liquidity from multiple providers under best‑execution principles. The company will deploy market surveillance tools to detect and prevent market abuse and other disorderly trading.
Vienna was chosen for its central location, multilingual talent pool and stable regulatory environment. Existing EEA users on the global platform will be invited to transition to the EU entity once authorization is in place, as stated.
