Alternatives to Coinmate

Revolut

🇱🇹 Lithuania

Nik Storonsky grew up moving between Russia and France before landing in London as a derivatives trader. Vlad Yatsenko was a software engineer who'd spent years building financial systems. In 2015 they sat down and asked a question that should have occurred to banks years earlier: why does spending money abroad still cost so much? The answer they built was Revolut — initially a prepaid card with no foreign exchange fees, then a multi-currency account, then a trading platform, then an insurance product, then a business banking offering, then something that's increasingly hard to describe as anything other than a full financial operating system. Revolut didn't unbundle banking so much as rebuild it from scratch for people who found the existing version frustrating and expensive. The numbers now are genuinely striking for a company that started with two people and a card. Revenue reached £4.5 billion in 2025, up 46% year on year, with net profit of £1.3 billion. The customer base grew to 68.3 million retail users — one in five working-age adults in Europe — plus 767,000 businesses. The company employs 12,200 people across more than 25 countries and was valued at $75 billion in a November 2025 secondary share sale, making it Europe's most valuable private technology company. The milestone that mattered most, though, arrived in March 2026: a full UK banking licence from the Prudential Regulation Authority, ending a three-year application process that had become the most-watched regulatory saga in European fintech. The licence means Revolut can now protect UK deposits up to £120,000, offer authorised consumer credit, and compete directly with high street banks for mortgage and lending business. It's the piece that transforms Revolut from a very successful payments app into a regulated bank. The company has also applied for a US banking charter and is expanding aggressively into Latin America, having opened its first bank outside Europe in Mexico. The original thesis — that banking could be cheaper, faster, and simpler — hasn't changed. The scale at which it's now being tested has.

Founded 2015

Bitpanda

🇦🇹 Austria

Bitpanda is a Vienna-based fintech that democratized crypto investing for European retail users who found traditional exchanges intimidating or inaccessible. The platform launched in 2014 as a Bitcoin marketplace and evolved into a multi-asset investment app that lets anyone buy fractions of crypto, stocks, metals, and commodities with a few taps on their phone. What sets Bitpanda apart is its aggressive focus on the everyday investor rather than crypto enthusiasts. The app strips away complexity, offers micro-investing (you can buy €1 worth of Bitcoin), and integrates savings automation through its Bitpanda Savings feature. It's become a household name in German-speaking Europe, with a clean mobile-first interface that appeals to younger savers who want exposure to alternative assets without the friction of traditional brokerages. Bitpanda operates across multiple business units: a consumer investment app, an institutional trading platform called Bitpanda Pro, and Bitpanda Elements, its white-label infrastructure play for financial institutions. The company expanded beyond crypto into traditional asset classes to capture a broader addressable market and hedge regulatory risk as European crypto rules tightened. Among European retail investment platforms, Bitpanda ranks as a serious contender—well-funded, profitable, and operating under tight regulatory scrutiny. It represents a shift in how Europeans think about alternative investments: not as speculative sidebets but as legitimate wealth-building tools accessible to anyone with a smartphone.

Founded 2014

GoCrypto

🇸🇮 Slovenia

GoCrypto enables merchants to accept crypto and digital payments at checkout.

Founded 2018

Qivalis

🇳🇱 Netherlands

Europe has spent years talking about digital sovereignty in finance. Qivalis is what happens when that conversation turns into a stablecoin. Based in Amsterdam, Qivalis is a bank-backed euro stablecoin initiative designed to bring regulated, euro-denominated money onto blockchain rails. The idea is simple but strategically loaded: create a digital euro asset that can move with the speed and programmability of crypto, while carrying the institutional trust of Europe’s banking sector. Its stablecoin is intended to be fully regulated, euro-backed, and built for secure digital payments and settlement. What makes Qivalis different is not just that it wants to issue a euro stablecoin. Plenty of crypto-native companies have tried to make euro stablecoins happen, with limited traction. Qivalis enters the market from the other side: not as a crypto startup trying to win over banks, but as a bank-led consortium trying to build a shared piece of European digital financial infrastructure. The consortium started with major European banks including ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, KBC, SEB, Raiffeisen Bank International and Banca Sella, with BNP Paribas later joining the group. Reuters reported that Qivalis was set up in Amsterdam and is applying for an Electronic Money Institution licence from De Nederlandsche Bank, with a planned launch in the second half of 2026. Since then, the project has become larger. Reuters reported on 20 May 2026 that the Qivalis consortium had expanded to 37 financial institutions across 15 countries, with additions including ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Sabadell, Bankinter, Bank of Ireland, Handelsbanken and Nordea. That scale matters because stablecoins are only useful if people and institutions actually use them. A euro stablecoin backed by one bank is a product. A euro stablecoin backed by dozens of banks starts to look more like infrastructure. Qivalis is aimed at a very specific problem: Europe does not want the future of digital money to be dominated only by dollar stablecoins. Today’s stablecoin market is heavily shaped by US dollar-denominated tokens such as USDT and USDC, issued by companies like Tether and Circle. The Financial Times reported that Qivalis is trying to create a euro-based alternative for use cases such as cross-border payments and atomic settlement, rather than replacing domestic payment systems. That distinction is important. Qivalis is not trying to become the next payment app for buying coffee in Amsterdam. It is closer to a wholesale and institutional digital money layer: a euro token that can be used for blockchain-based settlement, digital asset transactions, cross-border value movement and future tokenised finance. In that sense, Qivalis sits somewhere between banking infrastructure, stablecoins, payments and capital markets modernisation. The company is also part of the bigger MiCA story. Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation created a clearer framework for regulated crypto-assets and stablecoins, which gives bank-led initiatives a more credible path into the market. Qivalis is pursuing Dutch Central Bank authorisation as an Electronic Money Institution and has positioned itself as a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin issuer. Its leadership also signals the bridge it is trying to build. Reuters reported that Jan-Oliver Sell, formerly of Coinbase Germany, is CEO; ING digital asset lead Floris Lugt is CFO; and former NatWest chair Howard Davies is chair. That mix tells the story neatly: crypto market experience, bank digital asset expertise and old-school financial governance in one company. Qivalis feels different from most fintechs because it is not selling rebellion. It is not trying to make banks look outdated. It is trying to give banks a way to stay relevant in a financial system where tokenisation, blockchain settlement and programmable money are becoming harder to ignore. The pitch is not “move fast and break finance.” It is more European than that: move carefully, regulate properly, and build shared rails before someone else owns the market. The opportunity is clear. If tokenised assets, stablecoin settlement and on-chain financial markets keep growing, Europe will need a trusted euro-denominated settlement asset. A bank-backed stablecoin could help reduce reliance on dollar tokens, support faster cross-border settlement and give institutions a regulated way to use blockchain-based money without depending entirely on crypto-native issuers. The challenge is just as clear. Stablecoins need liquidity, distribution, trust and actual use cases. Euro stablecoins have historically struggled to gain meaningful adoption compared with dollar stablecoins. Qivalis will need to prove that banks can move fast enough, coordinate effectively and create a product that institutions actually prefer over existing alternatives. That is what makes Qivalis interesting. It is not just another stablecoin project. It is a test of whether European banks can build shared digital infrastructure before the market is fully captured by non-European players. Qivalis is Europe’s banking sector trying to answer a difficult question: if money is moving on-chain, who issues the euro that moves with it?

Founded 2025

Taurus

🇨🇭 Switzerland

Taurus provides digital asset custody, tokenization, and trading infrastructure for institutions.

Founded 2018

Ledger

🇫🇷 France

Ledger is the world's most recognizable cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer, though the company has evolved well beyond that single product. Founded in 2014, it pioneered the idea that self-custody of digital assets could be both secure and user-friendly, making crypto accessible to millions who otherwise would have left their holdings on exchanges. The company operates as a full-stack crypto infrastructure provider, offering hardware wallets (Ledger Nano S and X), a software wallet platform, and developer APIs that let third-party services integrate Ledger's security model into their own products. What sets Ledger apart in the crypto space is its obsessive focus on security through isolation. While competitors often offer software wallets or custodial solutions, Ledger's approach keeps private keys permanently offline, eliminating the attack surface that plagues hot wallets. The company has successfully maintained that zero-breach record for a decade, which matters enormously in an industry built on trust and skepticism. Beyond hardware, Ledger has quietly built a platform ecosystem—Ledger Live (the official app) aggregates portfolio tracking, staking, swaps, and third-party integrations, turning the wallet into something closer to a financial operating system for crypto natives. Ledger operates at a fascinating intersection of consumer hardware business and B2B infrastructure play. Millions of individual users buy Ledger devices directly, but the company also licenses its technology to banks, exchanges, and other financial institutions looking to offer institutional-grade custody. It's a rare position in fintech: simultaneously a consumer brand (few non-crypto companies sell physical products as recognizable as a Ledger Nano) and an enterprise security provider. That duality has made Ledger one of Europe's most valuable fintech unicorns, though it remains private. In the broader fintech ecosystem, Ledger represents the backbone layer—the infrastructure that makes decentralized finance possible without requiring users to become security experts themselves.

Founded 2014

CRX Markets

🇩🇪 Germany

CRX Markets operates in the murky territory between traditional finance and crypto, building infrastructure for regulated digital asset trading. The London-based platform serves institutional players who need the guardrails of compliance alongside the speed and transparency that blockchain-native markets promise. Rather than choosing between TradFi rigor and crypto innovation, CRX sits in the middle—offering a regulated venue for tokenized assets and digital securities that feels more like a regulated exchange than a crypto casino. The firm works with brokers, asset managers, and custodians who want exposure to digital assets but can't afford the regulatory ambiguity. What sets CRX apart is its focus on institutional-grade infrastructure: proper settlement, custody integration, and regulatory transparency. While most crypto platforms chase retail volume and headline-grabbing token launches, CRX is quietly building the plumbing that makes institutional participation in digital markets actually viable. It's the kind of infrastructure play that doesn't get flashy media coverage but matters enormously for the evolution of finance. In a landscape where most platforms are either fully traditional or fully crypto, CRX represents the emerging middle ground where serious institutions are beginning to operate.

Founded 2012

MoonPay

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

MoonPay sits at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance, offering on and off-ramps that let people move money between their bank account and crypto wallets with minimal friction. Founded in 2018, the London-based company has quietly become one of Europe's most important infrastructure plays in the emerging crypto economy, handling billions in transactions across more than 150 countries. What sets MoonPay apart is its unglamorous but essential positioning: it's not trying to be a crypto exchange or a trading platform. Instead, it's the plumbing layer that makes crypto accessible to ordinary people. You buy crypto through MoonPay the same way you'd buy a digital service—seamless, compliant, and fast. The company operates with full EU regulation, holding licenses across multiple jurisdictions while maintaining the kind of compliance rigor that traditional banks expect. MoonPay's API-first approach means startups, wallets, and even traditional fintech apps can embed crypto purchasing directly into their user experience. This white-label capability has attracted partnerships with everyone from music platforms to gaming studios. The company has raised substantial funding and is valued at over a billion dollars, a testament to how critical crypto infrastructure has become. In a market obsessed with trading speculation and yield farming, MoonPay represents something more fundamental: the normalization of crypto as a payment asset class. It's doing for cryptocurrency what Stripe did for online payments—removing the technical and regulatory barriers that kept it confined to specialists.

Founded 2018

Blockchain.com

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Blockchain.com is one of the oldest and most-visited crypto infrastructure platforms in the world, operating as a bridge between traditional finance and digital assets. The company runs a full-stack crypto ecosystem—a blockchain explorer that millions use to track transactions, a self-custody wallet that puts users in control of their private keys, and a suite of institutional-grade services for serious players. Where most crypto platforms treat blockchain as a trading venue, Blockchain.com treats it as infrastructure. The platform serves retail users seeking transparency and control, developers building on-chain applications, and institutions entering crypto with proper compliance frameworks. The company has maintained a distinctly crypto-native stance while gradually building enterprise services that acknowledge regulatory reality. Its wallet remains one of the most downloaded in the space, offering both simplicity for newcomers and advanced features for power users. Blockchain.com sits at an interesting inflection point in fintech—old enough to have survived multiple market cycles, serious enough to work with regulators, yet still fundamentally aligned with decentralized principles. The platform's role in the broader landscape is foundational: it enables crypto participation across the entire user spectrum, from curious individuals to multinational corporations managing digital asset reserves.

Founded 2011

Vivid Money

🇩🇪 Germany

Vivid Money is a Berlin-based fintech that collapsed the traditional distinction between banking, investing, and spending into a single mobile-first experience. Launched in 2020, it positioned itself as the European answer to all-in-one financial apps—a place where you could manage your checking account, invest in fractional shares and crypto, and pay with virtual cards, all without leaving the app. The platform built its early reputation on speed and accessibility. Account opening took minutes rather than days. The investment side felt more like TradingView-for-consumers than stuffy wealth management. Virtual card creation was instantaneous, and the app's design sensibility leaned toward the minimalist and modern rather than corporate banking's beige aesthetic. Vivid positioned itself against traditional banks' glacial pace and regulatory burden, while also differentiating from pure-play neobanks that didn't offer investing. It moved quickly to add crypto features when the market demanded them, and secured backing from tier-one investors who believed in the all-in-one thesis. However, the company faced headwinds from regulatory tightening around crypto and the broader fintech funding winter. In late 2024, reports emerged of operational restructuring and potential insolvency, marking a sobering turn for what had been one of Europe's most closely watched fintech challengers. Vivid's arc—from breakthrough disruptor to distressed turnaround—reflects the volatility of the European fintech landscape and the challenge of building a diversified financial platform without institutional heritage or captive customer bases.

Founded 2020

Debitum

🇪🇪 Estonia

Debitum is a peer-to-peer lending platform that connects investors across Europe with emerging market borrowers, primarily small businesses and consumers in Africa and Southeast Asia. Rather than traditional bank intermediaries, Debitum uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to facilitate direct lending relationships, cutting out middlemen and offering investors returns typically unavailable in their home markets. The platform operates on a marketplace model where verified borrowers access capital while European investors diversify into emerging markets at institutional-grade returns. What sets Debitum apart is its hybrid approach: it combines traditional credit underwriting with transparent, technology-enabled funding mechanics. Unlike neobanks focused on consumer checking or payment apps targeting young professionals, Debitum sits at the intersection of capital markets access and peer-to-peer finance, targeting financially sophisticated individuals seeking yield. The company tokenizes loans on its platform, allowing fractional investment and secondary market trading. Debitum represents a growing category of European fintech platforms that treat emerging markets not as charity cases but as genuine investment opportunities, democratizing access to higher-yielding assets traditionally reserved for institutional investors.

Founded 2015

CEX.IO

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

CEX.IO is a cryptocurrency exchange that's been operating since 2013, making it one of Europe's older players in the digital asset space. The platform lets users buy, sell, and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a growing roster of altcoins through a web interface and mobile app. It's positioned itself as a regulated exchange with fiat on-ramps, meaning you can fund your account with euros or other currencies through bank transfers and cards, then move into crypto—a crucial bridge that separates real exchanges from purely peer-to-peer platforms. The company operates across multiple jurisdictions and maintains compliance frameworks that matter to retail traders in Europe who want institutional-grade infrastructure without the complexity of decentralized exchanges. CEX.IO doesn't reinvent fintech architecture; instead, it focuses on being reliable, regulated, and accessible for mainstream users discovering cryptocurrency. In the fragmented European crypto landscape, where regulation remains patchy and trust is everything, CEX.IO represents the pragmatic middle ground between full decentralization and traditional finance's gatekeeping.

Founded 2013