Dutch prosecutors sell seized crypto from bankrupt broker Knaken, but customers may never be made whole

Dutch authorities have liquidated seized digital assets from bankrupt crypto broker Knaken, generating roughly €2.2 million (about $2.4 million) to feed into the bankruptcy estate. The problem: the estimated shortfall in customer funds sits at approximately €7 million, which means the recovered cash covers barely a third of what clients are owed. Knaken Cryptohandel B.V., which had operated since 2017 and built brand recognition through sponsorship deals with Dutch football giants Feyenoord and Ajax, was declared bankrupt by the Rotterdam District Court on July 16, 2026. The petition came from the Dutch Public Prosecution Service itself. What happened to the money The core issue is painfully simple. Knaken purchased crypto in its own name rather than holding tokens on behalf of individual customers. Court-appointed trustee C.F.W.A. Hamm has confirmed that this structure leaves customers with euro-denominated claims against the bankrupt entity, not claims to specific digital tokens. In plain terms, clients don’t own any crypto. They’re unsecured creditors standing in line behind whoever else the company owes money to. Around 30,000 customers found themselves locked out of their acco...