Knaken, a prominent Dutch cryptocurrency exchange, has been declared bankrupt by a Rotterdam court.
The ruling comes after €7 million worth of customers' funds vanished, according to prosecutors' allegations.
In late June, the prosecutors received a warning about what was described as a "very concerning situation" at the company.
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According to the Rotterdam court, Knaken had a "significant deficit" in customer funds and failed to inform users about the shortfall.
The court said customers were unable to discover the situation themselves because access to the platform had already been blocked.
The company argued that bankruptcy was not the best way to wind down operations. It also proposed distributing available funds among customers. However, the court was not swayed by these arguments, concluding the leading Dutch exchange actually lacked sufficient assets to fully repay creditors.
From success story to complete collapse
Knaken, which was founded in Rotterdam back in 2017, positioned itself as an easy-to-use cryptocurrency broker with support for various cryptocurrencies. The company expanded rapidly during the crypto bull market. It grew to around 45 employees while launching aggressive marketing campaigns that included sponsorship deals with Dutch Eredivisie football clubs.
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However, Knaken's fortunes began to deteriorate due to the introduction of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime. Knaken failed to secure the required license and disappeared from the regulator's crypto register.
In late May and early June, Knaken abruptly suspended operations, with its website and mobile application both being taken offline. Customers immediately lost access to their accounts and crypto holdings and had to rely only on brief and infrequent updates. Approximately 30,000 users have been affected.
This caused the Dutch authorities to eventually intervene, and prosecutors started seeking bankruptcy protection for customers. At the same time, the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) launched searches of company premises, seizing computers, mobile phones and other assets.
The Knaken bankruptcy is likely to become one of the Netherlands' most significant crypto failures to date.
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