5 Dutch Bitcoin companies already passed the DNB inspection
Dutch Bitcoin companies that are not registered with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as of 21 November are no longer allowed to offer their services to Dutch people. A number of platforms have now passed the supervisory authority’s inspection.
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Register of DNB
In order to facilitate the trade in bitcoin in the Netherlands in accordance with the rules, you have to go through a selection procedure by the regulator, among other things. Directors and other important persons within the organisation are screened. You also have to comply with the anti-money laundering rules.
In practice, this means that parties have to play an open card with DNB and also collect much more customer data. Parties must share this data with, for example, the tax authorities or the police on request.
At the moment there are 5 known companies in the register of De Nederlandsche Bank:
AMDAX
Anycoin Direct
Blox
Coinmerce
LiteBit
New names will undoubtedly be added before 21 November. But not everyone will pass the inspection on time or at all. 25 Bitcoin companies jointly spoke out against the hard demands of DNB.
Consequences of stricter rules
Procedures and measures of this kind cost the industry as a whole a great deal of money. There are also entrepreneurs who, in principle, do not want to participate in the collection of (even) more customer data. Several companies have stopped or moved because of the new rules.
Two prominent Dutch examples are BitKassa and Bittr. Both platforms were trendsetters in the Netherlands in their own way.
BitKassa still facilitates bitcoin payments for entrepreneurs, especially in Arnhem, but in a stripped-down form. You could also buy and sell bitcoin directly at BitKassa; these services have been discontinued. Supervision costs and objections of principle caused them to throw in the towel.
Bittr was a service with which you could buy BTC with a simple automatic bank transfer. Ideal and easy to use, but DNB wants companies to collect more data from their customers. Founder Ruben Waterman indicated that as a one-man business it was impossible for him to meet the strict requirements of the regulator.
Bitcoin derivatives exchange Deribit officially left the Netherlands in February. All trading activities are now part of a company in Panama.
It can have major consequences for your company if you don’t comply with the rules in countries where you offer your services. An example of this is derivatives exchange BitMEX.
The companies and individuals behind the exchange are prosecuted by the US Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Tens of thousands of Americans are said to have used the platform when they were not using the correct procedures.