Bitpanda Test Switzerland: Experience and Review

Letztes Update: 2. February 2024

You will learn in this Bitpanda review Switzerland, which cryptocurrencies you can buy at the Austrian crypto broker Bitpanda*, how high the fees are, how you can save fees with BEST and what my experience with Bitpanda has been.

Bitpanda

Bitpanda was founded in Vienna in 2014 and now has over 4 million users. Bitpanda GmbH is a digital asset service provider registered with the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) and the French Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). Since the funding round in spring 2021, fintech Bitpanda comes to a valuation of USD 1.2 billion and is thus considered a “unicorn”. Bitpanda, by the way, is the first “unicorn” to originate from Austria.

Besides

Bitpanda offers over 300 cryptoassets for trading. You can access your account at Bitpanda both via desktop and app. Not all functions are available in the very clear and easy-to-use app. But everything important like buying and selling is of course possible without any problems.

Bitpanda – Login

After providing your personal information, you must answer six questions according to the Money Laundering Directive, and then your identity will be verified. For this, you need an ID document and you have to take a selfie. Video chat is not required. Finally, you set your default currency. The registration process, including successful verification, took me less than ten minutes. A verification deposit of at least CHF 25 must be made to complete the process.

By the way, each subsequent transfer must also be at least CHF 25 and must be made from an account with your name. As soon as the payment is received, you can start trading immediately. In my case, the payment arrived the following day.

With Bitpanda, you specify how much you want to transfer each time you make a payment, and then you receive a payment reference to attach to your payment so that the transfer can be assigned to you.

SEPA transfers are free of charge and can take up to three business days. Payments with Visa or Mastercard credit cards are also free of charge and are available immediately.

Bitpanda – Fees

Let’s move on to the biggest point of criticism in this Bitpanda Switzerland test: the fees, or rather the fees that can hardly be found on the website. Bitpanda calls the fees “markups for buying and selling” cryptocurrencies and they are 1.49%.
The displayed rates include the Bitpanda trading premiums in each case. So, unfortunately, the fee is not shown separately.

One advantage with Bitpanda is that you can buy cryptocurrencies directly in Swiss francs and do not have to exchange them into a foreign currency first, as is the case with other providers. However, the spread may be slightly higher for the Swiss franc than for the euro, for example. In Euro, this Austrian crypto broker simply trades a lot more.

With the Bitpanda Pro trading platform, the fees are much lower. The maker fees on Bitpanda Pro are 0.1% and the taker fees are 0.15%. However, this Bitpanda test is mainly about Bitpanda, which is much clearer and easier to use, especially for beginners. By the way, once you have a Bitpanda account, you can log in to Bitpanda Pro with the same credentials and take a look there.

BEST

BEST is the abbreviation for Bitpanda Ecosystem Token, which allows you to benefit from various perks. You can easily buy the Bitpanda token BEST with Swiss francs, just like any other cryptocurrency on Bitpanda.

If you pay your trading fees with BEST, you will receive a 20% discount on trading fees. You can activate this option via slider.

The BEST Rewards loyalty program: if you hold BEST in your Bitpanda Wallet and trade at least once a month, you will receive 0.5% of your BEST holdings.

Depending on the number of BEST held, there are three different levels with further benefits.

BEST is a modern discount market for me and I quickly lose track of what I can collect and redeem when, where, how with such collecting and profiting actions.

Savings plans and crypto indices

Bitpanda does offer a savings plan, but it is not very attractive for Swiss people. The SEPA Direct Debit is only available in EUR currency, and therefore the savings plan must be processed via your credit card, which incurs a transaction fee of 1.99% each.
Furthermore, the savings plan can only be set up on the desktop or the Android app.

The three crypto indices from Bitpanda are also interesting for Swiss people. With these, you can diversify your crypto portfolio in one fell swoop. BCI5, BCI10 and BCI25 are available. The numbers represent the number of cryptocurrencies included in each case. Thus, the BCI5 contains the top 5 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. Currently, these are Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNP, Doge, and Polkadot. All indices are rebalanced on a monthly basis.

The assets included in the indices are purchased on Bitpanda and stored safely in cold storages. When buying, selling or swapping, trading fees in the amount of 1.99% are charged. Monthly rebalancing incurs a trading surcharge of 1.99% on the rebalanced amount. There is no custody fee.
Again, Bitpanda’s fees are too convoluted for my taste.

Storage and security

Bitpanda stores all of its users’ holdings in secure offline wallets, which it says are “state of the art.” Also, you have visibility into active devices and sessions that are connected to your account and that you can close with other devices. Additionally, Bitpanda offers SSL encryption and protection against DDoS attacks.

Under “Profile”, “Security” you can set up two-factor authentication, which is highly recommended. For example, you can use the Google Authenticator app.

As an additional security, for outgoing transfers – crypto and fiat currencies – you will always receive a mail that you need to confirm in order for the transfer to be initiated.

It is definitely recommended to keep larger holdings in your personal, well-protected cold wallet.

If you want to transfer cryptocurrencies to another wallet, there are different minimum withdrawal amounts and withdrawal fees depending on the cryptocurrencies. You can find more details directly at Bitpanda*.

Bitpanda – Experience

Ratings on comparison platforms should always be viewed with a certain degree of caution. But on Trustpilot, Bitpanda is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars with over 5,900 reviews, which still gives some direction.

A big advantage is certainly the German-speaking customer support. This is especially positively highlighted in many reviews. And I have also had only positive experiences with the support. A simple request on Twitter, for example, was answered after less than 45 minutes. You use Bitpanda as well? Then share your experiences below in the comments.

In recent months, Bitpanda, like other providers, has struggled with the stability of the trading platform during large price swings.

Conclusion Bitpanda Test Switzerland

Bitpanda offers an easy way to dive into the world of over 50 cryptocurrencies. Even for beginners, the clear app is easy to use. However, if questions arise, the extensive German-language helpdesk articles or the German-language support will help. The fees are in the mid-range and are unfortunately not displayed very transparently.

Three other ways to buy bitcoin I showed you in this post.

And last but not least, recently cryptocurrencies came up mainly because of their volatility. So – as with any investment – find out about the asset in advance and be aware of what part of your portfolio the asset should cover.

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Transparency and disclaimer
I was not paid by anyone for this blog post, it reflects my subjective opinion.
If you open accounts or business relationships, order products or services through my links and codes, I may receive a commission for doing so. However, you will not suffer any disadvantages such as higher prices or the like. The terms and conditions of the respective providers apply. Affiliate links are marked with a *.
Investments are associated with risks which, in the worst case, can lead to the loss of the capital invested.
All publications, i.e. reports, presentations, notices as well as contributions to blogs on this website (“Publications”) are for information purposes only and do not constitute a trading recommendation with regard to the purchase or sale of securities. The publications merely reflect my opinion. Despite careful research, I do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the information contained in the publications.