Gastauer is the Founder & CEO of Black Banx Group, a Financial Institution headquartered in the BVI with offices in Europe, Asia, North and Latin America.

Originally from Germany, Gastauer founded his first company, by the age of 24. As one of the first in Europe, Michael Gastauer created an online payment system to offer global card acceptance and payment processing solutions for the eCommerce industry. Gastauer led the business to consistent growth and profitability, before it was sold in 2008.

After selling his business, Michael Gastauer founded Gastauer Family Office (GFO), a single family office with US$ 11bn assets under management. Seven years later Michael become an investor and founder of digital banking group, Black Banx. Black Banx is one of the fastest growing FinTech companies, reaching a US$ 2.2bn valuation in less than ten months (Forbes, September 2016). In 2024, Black Banx Group reported annual pre-tax profits of USD 3.6 billion.

In January 2024, Michael Gastauer decided to allocate USD 1.5 of his family fortune to establish the Gastauer Nature Fund. The aim of the Gastauer Nature Fund is to combat the mass extinction of endangered animal species, to protect important ecosystems and to protect at least 30% of land and ocean areas by 2030.