N26

The N26 Standard account has no monthly fee and no fees for everyday transactions, and every account comes with a free virtual Mastercard. The paid plans Smart, Go and Metal include more free cash withdrawals per month, and Go and Metal also waive the fee for withdrawals in foreign currencies. Customers can split their balance into sub-accounts called Spaces, and each Space can get its own IBAN or virtual card.

N26 added crypto trading, Instant Savings and the trading of stocks and ETFs to the app in 2023. Customers can invest in more than 5,000 stocks, ETFs and ready-made funds with orders from €1, next to their current account. Business customers get the same four plans as Business Standard, Business Smart, Business Go and Business Metal.

Since 11 August 2026, customers in Germany and France can send money with Wero inside the N26 app, using only the phone number or email address of the recipient. The transfer runs over SEPA Instant and reaches the recipient account in under ten seconds at any time of day. N26 signed its membership agreement for Wero in December 2025 with the European Payments Initiative, and Co-CEO Marcus W. Mosen named checkout payments in online and physical stores as a later step.

N26 accounts also receive SEPA Instant transfers from other banks within seconds, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The physical and virtual N26 debit cards run on the Mastercard network. Customers can add them to Apple Pay as well as Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Garmin Pay and pay by phone before the plastic card arrives.

N26 Crypto is the crypto trading offer inside the N26 app, and Bitpanda is the partner that runs it. N26 launched N26 Crypto in Austria in October 2022, with Bitpanda handling trade execution and the custody of the coins. The offer covers more than 300 coins for eligible customers in Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal, with a minimum order of €1.

Prices and fees in the app come from Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH in Frankfurt and are not set by N26. The standard commission is 1.5 percent on bitcoin, 2.5 percent on other coins and 3.5 percent on coins with low liquidity, while Metal customers pay 1 and 2 percent on trades of up to €5,000 a month. Bitpanda keeps the coins in offline cold storage and manages the private keys, as described under crypto custody.

Under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, a company that exchanges crypto assets for customers or holds them in custody in the EU needs an authorization as a crypto-asset service provider. N26 Crypto relies on the license of its partner: BaFin granted Bitpanda a MiCAR license in January 2025, which Bitpanda uses to serve customers across the EU. N26 names Bitpanda Asset Management GmbH, licensed by BaFin, as the provider of its crypto service.

The deposit protection of the bank does not extend to these holdings. Crypto assets that customers buy through Bitpanda in the N26 app are not covered by the deposit guarantee or investor compensation schemes. Banks that want to offer crypto services under their own name can instead notify their supervisor under Article 60 of MiCA.

BaFin has placed N26 under special supervisory measures several times since 2021. In May 2021 the authority ordered N26 to fix gaps in its anti-money laundering controls and appointed a special commissioner to monitor the work. In October 2021 BaFin found shortcomings in IT and outsourcing risk management and limited N26 to 50,000 new customers per month. N26 reported that BaFin lifted the growth restriction in full with effect from 1 June 2024.

BaFin also fined the bank €4.25 million in 2021 under the Money Laundering Act. A second fine of €9.2 million followed in May 2024 because N26 had filed suspicious activity reports systematically late during 2022. In December 2025 BaFin ordered a package of measures against N26 Bank SE, after a special audit found deficiencies in risk management, complaints management and the organization of lending. The package adds capital requirements and a new special commissioner, and it bars N26 from new mortgage lending in the Netherlands.

N26 is a licensed bank from Berlin that offers its accounts only through a mobile app, without branches. Customers open an account online, pay with a Mastercard debit card or by phone, and trade securities and crypto assets in the same app.

Yes, N26 holds a full German banking license and has been supervised by BaFin as a credit institution since 2016. Deposits are protected up to €100,000 per customer under the German deposit protection scheme.

The fee depends on the coin and the plan, from 1 percent on bitcoin for Metal customers to 3.5 percent on coins with low liquidity. Personal customers can trade up to €50,000 a day, business customers up to €100,000, and both are limited to 200 trades within 24 hours.

BaFin supervises both sides of the offer: N26 as a bank and Bitpanda as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA. Custody, prices and fees are the responsibility of Bitpanda, while N26 provides the app and the customer account.