Buying Bitcoin in Austria: Exchanges, Taxes, Tips

Short answer: Buying bitcoin in Austria is easiest with an Austrian provider holding a MiCA licence from the FMA, such as Coinfinity, 21bitcoin or Bitpanda: transfer euros by SEPA, buy, withdraw to your own wallet. Costs range from 0 to 1.5 % per purchase. An Austrian provider deducts the 27.5 % capital gains tax (KESt) itself when you sell. Bitcoin ATMs have all but disappeared, and bitcoin bought through the Raiffeisen app cannot be sent to your own wallet (as of 13 November 2026).

What is different in Austria

Most buying guides online are written for Germany. Three things in them don't fit if you live in Austria:

• The tax: there is no one-year holding period any more, but 27.5 % KESt on every gain, however long you hold. In return, an Austrian provider deducts the tax itself.
• The providers: Bitpanda, Coinfinity and 21bitcoin are three well-known providers based in the country. They hold their licences from the Austrian FMA.
• Buying with cash: Austria was long the land of bitcoin ATMs. That is over.

The basics for all three countries, from the account to your first wallet, are in the guide Buying bitcoin in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. How it works in Switzerland is shown in Buying bitcoin in Switzerland. This article is about Austria only.

We earn nothing from any of the providers named. The names are examples, not recommendations.

Buying bitcoin in Austria: the providers at a glance

The figures come from the providers' price lists and the comparison on bitcoin-sparplan-vergleich.de (sources below, as of 13 November 2026). Fees change often. Check the current price list before your first purchase.

Coinfinity: bitcoin-only from Graz

Coinfinity has sold only bitcoin since 2014 and has held a MiCA licence from the FMA since 19 December 2025. The fee is 1.5 % per purchase, the same for savings plans and instant buys, with no spread. Each transaction costs at least €0.49. The app includes a wallet whose keys only you hold. Bitcoin you buy therefore lands with you directly, for the average network fee of recent transactions.

If you want personal help, you can buy in Graz or at the bitcoin.wien shop. That costs 3.3 %.

21bitcoin: savings plan without a purchase fee

21bitcoin is an Austrian bitcoin-only app with a MiCA licence from the FMA since November 2025. A savings plan has no purchase fee from day 8; before that the instant-buy fee applies. The provider earns a small margin in the price that it does not quantify. The bitcoin is held by 21bitcoin at first; a withdrawal to your wallet costs 1’000 sats. So collect purchases and withdraw, for example, once a month.

Bitpanda: the big one from Vienna

Bitpanda is the best-known Austrian provider and received its MiCA licence from the FMA in April 2025, its third after Germany and Malta. In the regular app a bitcoin purchase costs 0.99 %. On top comes a spread in the displayed price that Bitpanda does not show separately. In the professional section, Bitpanda Fusion, you buy on the order book at 0.25 % up to €100’000 trading volume.

Bitpanda lists hundreds of other coins, stocks and metals. For a bitcoin saver that is more distraction than benefit. How such apps differ from bitcoin-only providers is shown in Bitcoin-only app or crypto exchange.

Bank apps: convenient, but a closed system

Many Raiffeisen banks offer buying directly in the Mein ELBA app. Behind it is Bitpanda; the bank only provides access. You see the fees before each purchase. The catch is in the terms: a transfer out is not possible, it is a closed system.

That means you don't hold bitcoin you control yourself, but a claim. You can only sell it there. For a long-term holder the most important step is missing. Other banks such as N26 also use Bitpanda in the background. Ask before buying whether you can withdraw to your own wallet.

Bitcoin ATMs and cash

For a long time Austria had bitcoin ATMs in post offices and electronics stores. The largest operator, Kurant GmbH, shut down its machines with the new MiCA requirements and refers its customers to Coinfinity (as of November 2026). If you want to buy with cash in Austria today, you have hardly any options left. What remains without ID, from private sellers and at meetups, is covered in Buying bitcoin without KYC.

What a €1’000 purchase really costs

Percentages alone say little. This is what a €1’000 purchase looks like on each route, including the withdrawal to your wallet where possible:

Between the cheapest and the most expensive route there are about 23’000 sats at €1’000, roughly €15. For a one-off purchase that is little. For a savings plan over ten years it adds up. The more important feature remains whether you can withdraw to your own wallet.

Hidden costs sit in the spread, the mark-up on the market price. So once, compare the price the app shows you when buying with the market price at the same moment. How to measure this is explained in Hidden costs when buying bitcoin.

MiCA: how to recognise a licensed provider

Since 1 July 2026, only providers with a MiCA licence may sell or hold bitcoin in the EU. In Austria the licence is granted by the Financial Market Authority (FMA). A provider licensed in another EU country may also serve you, as Relai does with its licence from France.

How to check a provider:

1. Look at the register. The FMA publishes granted licences on its website, and ESMA keeps a register for the whole EU. If the provider is in neither, don't use it.
2. Check the services. The licence states what the provider may do. Coinfinity, for example, may hold custody, exchange, execute transfers and give advice.
3. Test a withdrawal. A licence does not protect against insolvency or a frozen account. The best protection is not to leave your bitcoin with the provider.

What else MiCA changes for you as a customer is covered in MiCA and bitcoin. One rule is noticeable: if you withdraw more than €1’000 to your own wallet, the provider must check that it belongs to you. A signed message or a screenshot from your wallet app is usually enough.

Buying bitcoin in Austria and taxes: KESt and old holdings

The purchase itself triggers no tax. A sale for euros or paying with bitcoin is taxable. Swapping into another cryptocurrency is tax-neutral.

New holdings: bitcoin you bought from 1 March 2021. Gains cost 27.5 % KESt, however long you hold. You can offset losses in the same year against other capital income such as share gains.

Old holdings (Altbestand): bitcoin you bought up to 28 February 2021. The old rule with a one-year holding period applies to them. Since that has long expired, you sell old holdings tax-free today, provided you can prove the purchase date.

The deduction: since 1 January 2024, Austrian providers deduct KESt themselves when you sell and pay it to the tax office. The tax is then settled and you no longer have to declare the gain. With foreign providers such as Relai or Kraken, and for sales from your own wallet, you declare it yourself, in the E1kv supplement.

The full calculation with average cost, loss offsetting and the tax return is in Bitcoin taxes in Austria.

Five tips for buying in Austria

1. Don't mix old holdings. Keep bitcoin from before March 2021 in a wallet of its own. If old and new coins sit together and you make no choice, the oldest count as sold first, and the tax-free part is gone first.
2. Secure your records now. Purchase receipts, bank statements and exchange reports from before March 2021 are your proof of tax exemption. Save them while you still have access.
3. Buy with withdrawal. Choose a provider that lets you withdraw to your own wallet. How to set one up is shown in Your first wallet step by step.
4. Bundle small instalments. Minimum fees and fixed withdrawal fees eat a noticeable share of €10 or €25 instalments. Monthly rather than weekly, and withdraw less often.
5. Pay by SEPA, not by card. Transfers and SEPA Instant cost nothing at the providers named. Credit cards cost extra.

Where is the bitcoin price right now?

A savings plan needs no timing. But if you invest a larger amount, you want to know whether bitcoin is currently cheap or expensive. The site's Power Law model compares the price with its long-term trend.

On 12 November 2026 bitcoin stood at about €64’490, at 0.66 times the trend and just under 7 % above the floor. That put it in the Accumulation zone. Today's figures are in this box, the chart is on the Power Law page:

How a monthly amount in euros would have developed so far, you can try here: