Rotterdam Court Declares Knaken Bankrupt, Users Await Recovery

The Rotterdam district court declared crypto platform Knaken bankrupt, ruling that the company lacked sufficient assets to repay users after funds went missing.

Court-appointed administrators will now control the distribution of Knaken's remaining holdings. Their task is to assess what is recoverable and build a repayment plan for creditors and users. The ruling did not specify the size of the shortfall or how many people are affected.

Knaken did not issue a public statement about the bankruptcy or explain how the funds disappeared. Users are left without a timeline or an estimate of what they might recover.

The court said in its order that Knaken could not meet its repayment commitments. That statement reflected a straightforward financial situation: the money was not available to pay what was owed.

Under Dutch insolvency law, administrators take possession of a company's assets and begin the claims process. Users typically file as unsecured creditors, a status that places them low in the repayment priority. Full recovery is unlikely for most retail depositors.

The administrators have not yet released a preliminary plan or a schedule for distributing assets. Until they do, users have no clear picture of the next steps or the likely recovery rate.