Bitpanda says it is building Vision Chain, an Ethereum L2 for EU-regulated tokenization

Bitpanda said it is building “Vision Chain,” an Ethereum layer-2 aimed at helping European banks and fintechs issue and manage tokenized assets under EU regulatory frameworks. The Vienna-based broker framed the network around compatibility with MiCA and MiFID II as tokenization infrastructure competition intensifies.

What Bitpanda announced

Bitpanda said Wednesday it is building Vision Chain, describing it as an Ethereum layer-2 designed for European banks and fintechs that want to issue, manage, and trade tokenized assets within EU regulatory constraints.

The company positioned the effort as infrastructure built with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II in mind, putting compliance framing at the center of the product pitch.

What Vision Chain is meant to do

Bitpanda described Vision Chain as a rollup built on Ethereum, using Optimism’s OP Stack. In practice, that means a layer-2 network that batches transactions and settles back to Ethereum, with the OP Stack providing modular components for building the rollup.

The target use case is regulated tokenization. Bitpanda said the chain will pair the OP Stack with institutional custody and compliance tooling so European regulated companies can tokenize and trade traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and funds on an Ethereum-based rollup.

Bitpanda also argued that its positioning, combined with existing bank partnerships in Germany and Austria, could reduce the lift for traditional institutions looking to move onchain compared with building tokenization infrastructure internally.

Why the timing matters

The announcement lands as tokenization shifts from a crypto-native thesis toward a capital-markets agenda, with large venues and infrastructure providers testing blockchain rails alongside brokerages and fintechs.

Bitpanda leaned on a market-growth narrative to frame the opportunity. Mordor Intelligence estimated the asset tokenization market will grow from around $2.08 trillion in 2025 to $13.55 trillion by 2030, implying a compound annual growth rate of roughly 45% as more real-world assets move onchain.

Competition is no longer limited to specialist crypto firms. The field now includes trading names like Robinhood and incumbents such as Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, which are piloting blockchain-based infrastructure and extended trading hours in an effort to attract more institutional flows.

Competitive context and open questions

A recent datapoint in that race came earlier this week, when Nasdaq teamed up with Talos on a tokenized collateral platform that aims to unlock more than $35 billion of currently trapped collateral. In parallel, institutional networks like Canton are running live experiments involving tokenized US Treasurys, money market funds and other real-world assets for banks and market infrastructure firms.

Bitpanda did not provide a launch timeline or identify which banks or fintechs would use Vision Chain at rollout. The company also did not detail governance, mainnet or testnet status, or other technical specifics beyond describing the chain as an Ethereum layer-2 built with the OP Stack and wrapped with custody and compliance tooling.

Company background and scrutiny

Founded in Vienna in 2014, Bitpanda said it now serves over seven million users across Europe through its investing platform and B2B infrastructure offerings.

The company has presented itself as one of Europe’s most regulated crypto companies. An International Consortium of Investigative Journalists-linked investigation published in January, citing internal documents and audit findings at Bitpanda’s German subsidiary, reported deficiencies including information security weaknesses and poor oversight of outsourced functions.

Cointelegraph reached out to Bitpanda for additional information, but had not received a response by publication.

Sources

• Cointelegraph