Ralph Rirsch

Ralph Rirsch is Senior Financial Innovation Supervisor, FinTech, Sandbox and AI Lead at FMA Finanzmarktaufsicht Österreich, a position he has held since February 2025. In this role he leads the authority's FinTech, regulatory sandbox, and AI functions. Concurrently, he serves as a Lecturer in EU Regulatory Law (Crypto) at the University of Vienna, a position he has held since September 2022.

Prior to rejoining FMA, Rirsch spent eight months as a Crypto and FinTech Expert at EY Law Austria – Pelzmann Gall Größ Rechtsanwälte GmbH. Before that, he served as Assistant General Counsel Team Lead Continental Europe at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange from July 2022 to May 2024, where his mandate covered regulatory product, M&A, and MiCAR. His first tenure at FMA spanned from January 2018 to July 2022, encompassing roles in integrated conduct supervision of banks, prudential supervision of insurance and pension companies, supervision of investment firms, and a brief period as Team Lead for the analysis of investment firms. Earlier in his career he held a consultant position at Deloitte Österreich. He holds degrees in International Business Administration from Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien and in Law (Rechtswissenschaft) from Juridicum Wien, with exchange studies at Miami University and the Graduate School of Management St. Petersburg.