The Rotterdam crypto company Knaken, where you can trade in crypto coins such as bitcoin, is out of business. The platform’s website states that business activities have been ‘suspended for the time being’. What’s going on?
It is a mystery to users of the platform: why can they no longer access their crypto coins? And what happened to their money? The company itself says it will bundle the questions and provide answers by mid-June.
Supervisor responds
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), which supervises cryptocurrency providers, is aware of the situation with Knaken, but cannot provide any further explanation.
“Due to supervisory confidentiality, we cannot say anything further about this. We cannot make any substantive statements about individual files,” the supervisor explains. “Knaken has previously indicated on the website that it has a license application pending with the AFM. In general, we can say that crypto service providers that do not meet the MiCAR standards will see that their license application will not go through with us.”
Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) is the European regulatory package for crypto companies. The rules in that package should better protect investors and set requirements regarding, among other things, transparency, risk management, customer funds and the prevention of money laundering and market abuse.
The AFM advises consumers to always check whether crypto traders have the correct license. This can be done via the cryptoregister.
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