Dutch Court Declares Knaken Crypto Platform Bankrupt
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- Rotterdam court declared Knaken Cryptohandel BV and its affiliated foundation bankrupt after prosecutors found €7 million ($8 million) in customer assets missing, ruling the bankruptcy was needed for an orderly settlement.
- The court found Knaken has insufficient assets to fully repay users and said customers lacked sufficient information to determine their legal position.
- The Dutch Public Prosecution Service filed the bankruptcy petition on June 30 after opening a criminal investigation, while the Netherlands' financial crime investigation service raided the company in late June and seized devices and assets.
- Knaken, founded in Rotterdam in 2017 and offline since early June, does not appear in the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets' register of authorized crypto-asset service providers — meaning it operated outside regulated oversight.
- The AFM told Cointelegraph it had begun supervisory and enforcement action against unauthorized crypto providers after the Netherlands ended its MiCA transition period on June 30, 2025 — a year ahead of the EU-wide July 1, 2026 deadline.
Why it matters: An unauthorized crypto platform became unable to repay its users, leaving customers without clear legal standing to recover €7 million in missing funds. The case lands precisely as Dutch regulators gain new supervisory teeth after the Netherlands accelerated its MiCA transition deadline by a full year.
