Netherland-based Maastricht University (UM) is set to recover nearly €500,000 ($512,150) worth of Bitcoin (BTC) after the police authorities managed to solve the infamous ransomware attack in December 2019. In 2019, a ransomware hack targeted the said university and froze all its research data, emails and library resources. The hackers demanded €200,000 in BTC and the university, fearing losing critical research data, decided to pay the said amount . The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (DDPS) managed to track down one of the crypto wallets associated with the hack in 2020 to Ukraine and froze funds in the account valued at …

Major Dutch stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam, a part of the pan-European marketplace Euronext, is debuting its first Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). Jacobi Asset Management, a London-based digital asset management platform, is preparing to launch its Jacobi Bitcoin ETF on Euronext Amsterdam next month, the firm announced on Thursday. The spot Bitcoin ETF will start trading on the Euronext Amsterdam Exchange under the ticker BCOIN. The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF is positioned as the first spot Bitcoin ETF launched in Europe, Jacobi founder and CEO Jamie Khurshid told Cointelegraph. "Our product is the first spot or physical-backed Bitcoin fund, and the …

In a new blog post published Thursday, Coinbase says that starting Monday, all of its customers in the Netherlands will need to complete new Know Your Customer, or KYC, requirements when transferring digital assets to wallet addresses that are not based on the exchange. This includes providing the recipient's full name, the purpose of the transfer and the recipient's complete residential address. Transfers between Coinbase accounts are not affected by the new rule. The exchange noted that the change will only impact Coinbase users in the Netherlands, and is being implemented to comply with the country's digital asset regulations. Non-custodial …

A Dutch regulator stated that the crypto derivatives market should be restricted to wholesale trade. The reasons are not unfamiliar — lack of transparency, market manipulation and “other forms of criminal activity.” On Thursday, the head of Capital Markets and Transparency Supervision at the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM), Paul-Willem van Gerwen, shared his opinion on the crypto derivatives trade at the Amsterdam Propriety Traders Managers Meeting. Van Gerwen highlighted, that despite (or perhaps because of) the market’s rising interest in crypto derivatives trading, the AFM regards “such trade as entailing risks” and considers this market to be less …

The world’s energy market is rapidly evolving, moving from hydrocarbon plants to a future centered around clean energy enabled by wind and solar power. As such, today’s energy market is shifting to an increasingly decentralized, real-time model based on distributed energy resources (DERs) including battery energy storage systems, solar arrays, natural gas generators and more. Recent findings from Allied Market Research show that the global distributed energy generation market size was valued at $246.4 billion in 2020, yet this number is predicted to reach $919.6 billion by 2030. Web3 technologies for managing energy assets Given today’s advancing energy market, Jesse …

Seasoned crypto enthusiasts will remember Didi Taihuttu as the man who went all-in on Bitcoin (BTC) in 2016. He sold his and his family’s possessions. camping out in the Netherlands while he waited for Bitcoin to the moon. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Taihuttu recalls how it felt to own almost nothing but Bitcoin, 6 years ago: “I don’t have any cars, motorbikes, nothing. And I’m happier than ever. And she [Taihuttu's wife] agrees! At that moment we decide to break that chain and lead by example for the kids.” He explains his realization that life is about accumulating happiness, …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining generates a lot of “waste” heat. As energy prices spiral out of control in Europe, miners have come up with creative ways of recycling the heat generated by solving valid Bitcoin blocks. Whereas in Norway, a miner is drying wood from the local timber mill, across the North Sea in the Netherlands, a miner is heating greenhouses to grow produce and bloom “Bitcoin flowers.” In a win-win partnership between a Dutch farmer and a Bitcoin miner, Bitcoin Bloem mines Bitcoin and bud flowers in greenhouses in the province of North Braband, southeast of Rotterdam. It works like …

United States-based companies are increasingly listing cryptocurrency-based investment products in Europe, with asset manager WisdomTree getting another listing for its crypto basket exchange-traded product (ETP). On Dec. 2, WisdomTree listed its Crypto Mega Cap Equal Weight ETP on Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam. Trading under the ticker symbol MEGA, the investment product is backed by physical crypto assets including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) with a quarterly rebalance. Launched in November 2021, MEGA was previously listed on Deutsche Boerse’s digital exchange Xetra and Swiss SIX exchange. Apart from MEGA, WisdomTree also launched two more crypto ETPs recently, including WisdomTree …

De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands, issued a warning to Binance Holdings Limited and its entities offering crypto services to local residents. In a Wednesday statement, De Nederlandsche Bank said the major crypto exchange was not operating in compliance with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act, alleging that Binance customers were at risk of “becoming involved in money laundering or terrorist financing.” According to the central bank, Binance is illegally offering crypto services as well as custodian wallets without the required legal registration. The Dutch central bank specified that its notice was to the crypto …

The football ecosystem has stepped up its adoption game as more clubs continue to involve crypto in mainstream operations. Netherland-based top-tier football club PSV Eindhoven has partnered with local crypto trading platform Anycoin Direct, which will pay the club an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin (BTC) in a new sponsorship deal. According to the official statement, Anycoin Direct will remain an official partner of PSV Eindhoven for the next two seasons with the goal of growing awareness of crypto across Europe. By using the crypto platform’s services, PSV Eindhoven will be able to receive the total sponsorship amount in Bitcoin, making …

Troubled global cryptocurrency exchange Binance continues moving fast in curbing services to respond to the ongoing regulatory scrutiny worldwide, partly shutting down derivatives trading. Binance officially announced Friday that it would suspend its derivatives trading across the European region, starting with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The company clarified that users in mentioned countries cannot open new futures accounts on Binance effective immediately. We're continually evaluating our products and working with our partners to meet our users’ needs. Today we’re announcing that we plan to wind down our derivatives products offerings across the European region, commencing with the Netherlands, Germany, …

Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin may soon be opening its doors wider to crypto traders in Malta and the Netherlands following approval from key regulators. In a Thursday announcement, Okcoin said it had secured formal registration from the central bank in the Netherlands and secured "in principle" approval for a virtual financial assets license from the Malta Financial Services Authority. In addition, the exchange has obtained a money transmitter license for the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The regulatory benchmarks in Europe are part of Okcoin’s plans to partner with local banks and payment providers to minimize regulation risks and make it …