Bitpanda, an Austria-based cryptocurrency trading platform, is setting up a new tech hub in Poland in its bid to become one of the crypto industry’s biggest firms
According to a Wednesday tweet from Bitpanda co-CEO and co-founder Paul Klanschek, the brokerage will provide €10 million (US$12.2 million) to fund the technology and innovation center in Krakow, Poland.
The move will see the creation of around 300 new jobs, adding to the brokerage’s already existing 280 strong workforce, the report said.
The new team of people will be led by Bitpanda chief technology officer Christian Trummer, under whom the hub aims to support a move into stocks and exchange traded funds.
In a report from Polish financial news source Money.pl, Eric Demuth, also co-CEO and co-founder, said that the company chose the city of Krakov, rather than the nation of Poland. “The key was not specific cost or tax preferences, but access to qualified employees, universities, and the possibility of creating a technological ecosystem,” he said.
“I’m confident that we will be able to attract the most skilled professionals from the whole region,” Trummer said. “From backend developers, software, machine learning and QA engineers to product owners and scrum masters.”
The brokerage recently completed a $52 million Series A funding round led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures to help scale the company with the onboarding of new employees and fund a range of new products.
The platform offers trading in a range of cryptocurrencies and precious metals against six fiat currencies.
“Our goal is to remove barriers to individual investments, educate users and become the first-choice investment platform,” Trummer said.