Knaken Knackered: Dutch Prosecutors Push for Bankruptcy as 30,000 Customers Stay Locked Out 🔓

Dutch prosecutors have asked a Rotterdam court to declare crypto platform Knaken Cryptohandel and affiliated entity Stichting Knaken Payments bankrupt, citing the need to act "in the public interest" as roughly 30,000 customers remain unable to access their funds. The Public Prosecution Service filed the petition after Knaken went offline in early June and stopped paying out customers, with prosecutors saying they are "very concerned" the wind-down is not proceeding in an orderly fashion.

Knaken allowed users to swap euros for cryptocurrencies including $BTC and $ETH, trade, and store digital assets, activities that require a license from the Dutch markets regulator, the AFM under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. The company never obtained such a license. The AFM flagged Knaken to prosecutors, who then used their civil power to seek a company's bankruptcy in the public interest. If the court agrees, a court-appointed trustee would take control of Knaken's assets and determine what can be returned to customers and other creditors; the prosecution service said it plays no part in how a trustee administers that process.

A parallel criminal probe by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, or FIOD, is examining possible offenses, prompted by AFM signals and a complaint from the regulator. On Monday, investigators searched premises, seized laptops and phones, and confiscated company assets. No arrests have been made. Prosecutors stressed that the civil and criminal tracks are handled by separate teams. Knaken has reportedly told customers not to file damage claims.

The case lands as Europe's crypto licensing regime tightens. A transition period under MiCA, which let firms keep operating under older national rules, expires on July 1, after which platforms without authorization can no longer legally serve EU customers, a shift analysts expect to thin out a market in which only around 200 firms have secured full licenses. The Netherlands closed its own grace period a year ago.

Knaken had courted mainstream attention as a sponsor of Dutch football clubs including Ajax, Feyenoord, and Sparta Rotterdam, though those ties frayed ahead of the collapse: Ajax dropped the company after two months and Feyenoord ended its partnership last year. In its 2024 annual accounts, Knaken described itself as 'financially vulnerable,' according to Dutch press.