Dutch court declares Knaken bankrupt after prosecutors said €7 million in customer assets were missing

A Rotterdam court has declared cryptocurrency platform Knaken Cryptohandel BV and its affiliated foundation bankrupt after prosecutors said €7 million ($8 million) in customer assets were missing. For PSPs and crypto-facing providers, the detail that matters is simple: when access is blocked and the books do not cover client balances, insolvency and enforcement tend to arrive together.

1. The Rotterdam court issued the ruling on Thursday, saying bankruptcy was needed to ensure an orderly settlement after Knaken blocked access to its platform and accounts. The court said the company had insufficient assets to fully repay users, and that customers lacked enough information to determine their legal position.
2. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service filed the bankruptcy petition on June 30 after opening a criminal investigation into the missing funds. In late June, the Netherlands’ financial crime investigation service also raided the company and seized devices and assets.
3. Knaken was founded in Rotterdam in 2017 and went offline in early June, according to NL Times. The company does not appear in the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets’ (AFM) register of authorized crypto-asset service providers.
4. The AFM told Cointelegraph in early July that it had already begun supervisory and enforcement action against unauthorized crypto-asset service providers after the Netherlands ended its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation transition period on June 30, 2025. The Dutch deadline came before the EU-wide maximum transition deadline of July 1, 2026.