Dutch prosecutors are trying to force a collapsed crypto platform into bankruptcy to protect tens of thousands of customers locked out of their money.

The Public Prosecution Service asked a court in Rotterdam to declare Knaken Cryptohandel and an affiliated entity, Stichting Knaken Payments, bankrupt, calling the move in "the public interest." Knaken has been offline since early June, leaving an estimated 30,000 customers unable to reach their holdings.

The platform let users swap euros for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as trade, and store digital assets, activities that require a license from the Dutch markets regulator, the AFM, under the EU's crypto rules. Knaken never obtained one.

The company says it has halted operations and is winding down, but prosecutors said they are "very concerned" the process isn't orderly. Knaken has stopped paying customers out and has reportedly told them not to file damage claims.

Acting on warnings from the AFM, prosecutors used their civil power to seek a company's bankruptcy in the public interest. If the court agrees, a court-appointed trustee would take over Knaken's assets and decide what can be returned to customers and other creditors. The prosecution service said it plays no part in how a trustee handles that process.

Running alongside is a criminal probe by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, or FIOD, into possible offenses, prompted by AFM signals and a complaint from the regulator. On Monday, investigators carried out searches, seized laptops and phones, and confiscated company assets. No one has been arrested. Prosecutors stressed that the civil and criminal tracks are handled by separate teams.

Crypto firms brace for MiCA

The case lands as Europe's crypto licensing regime, MiCA, tightens. A transition period that let firms keep operating under older national rules expires July 1, after which platforms without authorization can no longer legally serve EU customers, a squeeze 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 the mainstream as a sponsor of Dutch football clubs, including Ajax, Feyenoord, and Sparta Rotterdam. Those ties frayed well before 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 public broadcaster NOS.

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