• Shiba Inu enjoys more than 1.3 million on-chain holders and the Shibarium is expected to onboard more after the mainnet launch.
• Bitpanda CEO Eric Demuth noted that the partnership will help in cryptocurrency adoption and make investing easily accessible to more people.

The European Union recently passed the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (MiCA) legislative policies that heavily incentivize the development of cryptocurrency-related projects in the region. Moreover, a report by Destatis shows the European market recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) of  0.0 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the fourth quarter of 2022. Although the bloc narrowly escaped a widely feared recession, the legislators are keen to keep building bridges to attract international investors. 

Moreover, the Eurozone is poised to benefit from the slow crypto legislation in the United States that has been chasing local companies. Already, top crypto companies including Ripple Labs and Coinbase Global have shown great interest in the European market.

EU banks tap on the crypto market

Already, several financial institutions from the EU bloc have begun offering crypto-related products to institutional and retail investors including ETFs. In a recent development, Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien, a regional bank located in Austria and a member of the Raiffeisen Banking Group, has announced a strategic partnership with Bitpanda Technology Solutions, which provides institutional investors with an Investment-as-a-Service (IaaS) solution.

In this regard, RLB NÖ-Wien intends to begin offering its clients crypto products including Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), and Shiba Inu (SHIB), among others.

Founded in 2014, the Vienna, Austria-based crypto firm enjoys more than 4 million global users. Moreover, the crypto platform is legally available in different markets through regulations like PSD2 payment service provider license and E-Money license from Austria.

The two companies have a common goal of uplifting their customers through diversified, secure investment products. Bitpanda CEO Eric Demuth noted that the partnership will help in cryptocurrency adoption and make investing easily accessible to more people.

“In the sense of absolute customer focus, we stand by our customers as a reliable and strong partner. Personal advice is just as much a part of it as digital solutions that are up to date,” emphasizes Michael Höllerer, General Director of Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien

Shib to the World

Shiba Inu, an Ethereum-based meme coin with more than $6 billion in market cap, is now available to mainstream investors through Bitpanda and RLB NÖ-Wien’s partnership. Already, the second largest meme coin is exposed to more than 1.3 million holders, thus making it a major digital asset with more upsides. The launch of the Shibarium layer 2 scaling solution is expected to significantly increase Shiba Inu’s adoption in the coming years.

Moreover, more DeFi protocols on the Shiba Inu ecosystem means more users, who reciprocate more on-chain token burns. Currently, about 41.03 percent of the total Shiba Inu tokens have been burned to ensure the sustained value of the existing tokens.