Bitonic receives MiCAR license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets

Bitonic, the first bitcoin company in the Netherlands, has received the new European Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). With this license, Bitonic can continue offering its services in all EU member states and will be under continuous supervision by the AFM.

By obtaining the MiCAR license, Bitonic has demonstrated that it meets requirements in areas such as security, consumer protection, transparency toward customers, and anti-money laundering measures.

The license enables Bitonic to offer four regulated services across the European market:

• Exchange: buying and selling bitcoin.
• Custody: holding bitcoin on behalf of clients.
• Transfer: depositing and withdrawing bitcoin.
• Execution of orders on behalf of clients: over-the-counter (OTC) services.

Uniform rules

The goal of MiCAR is to establish harmonized regulations for all crypto service providers operating within the European Union, creating a level playing field, ensuring consumer protection, and ending fragmented national regulations.

Bitonic views this new regulation in principle as a positive development. Especially since the rise of markets focused on new altcoins and quick profits, many consumers have fallen victim to various forms of fraud and deception, scam coins, and (partly due to unequal rules and supervision) a growing number of unreliable and unsafe providers of crypto-related services.

How well consumers will actually be protected and whether a level playing field will emerge will largely depend on the actions of the different regulators who are responsible for enforcing these rules.

Bitonic’s journey

Bitonic started in 2012 as the very first bitcoin company in the Netherlands. From the start Bitonic has prioritized protecting consumers and making bitcoin trading as safe and accessible as possible for everyone. Even before the introduction of specific legislation or a licensing requirement for bitcoin trading,

In 2014 Bitonic launched a full-fledged bitcoin trading platform (BL3P) in addition to its exchange service. Along with the application for a license from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) to be able to hold client funds Bitonic implemented various identification and customer due diligence (KYC/CDD) measures to reduce integrity risks. Although DNB ultimately decided that Bitonic’s services did not fall under its supervision, Bitonic has continued to uphold these measures.

One of the measures Bitonic took was the establishment of a separate trust foundation: Stichting Bitonic Payments. This ensured that custody of client funds (in both euros and bitcoin) was strictly separated from Bitonic BV itself.

Bitonic has always seen it as its moral duty to be a reliable and trustworthy partner, both for customers and for (government) institutions, even when that cooperation was not always reciprocated by the latter. As one of the founders of the Verenigde Bitcoinbedrijven Nederland (VBNL), Bitonic played a leading role for many years in developing and expanding an industry-wide association to combat fraud and money laundering.

Since May 2020, Bitonic has been subject to the European Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5), and later that year, Bitonic was registered with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as a crypto service provider. This formally made Bitonic a gatekeeper of the financial sector and placed it under DNB supervision.

Because Bitonic highly values the privacy and legal certainty of its customers, a disagreement with DNB during the registration process ultimately led to a lawsuit: DNB had imposed additional, strict sanctions-screening requirements without a legal basis, which were detrimental to consumer privacy. Eventually, the administrative court ruled in favor of Bitonic, and DNB revised these requirements.

Looking ahead

The MiCAR license marks the latest chapter in Bitonic’s journey as one of Europe’s first bitcoin-only pioneers and the oldest bitcoin company in the Netherlands, a journey in a sector Bitonic helped to shape, while still staying true to its principles. Obtaining this license provides a strong foundation for the future and will help Bitonic further expand its services across Europe.