Dutch Central Bank Revokes Crypto Wallet Verification

A Dutch court has ruled in favor of Bitonic cryptocurrency exchange against De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) over wallet verification requirements. Now, cryptocurrency exchanges in the country are no longer required to verify crypto wallet verification requirements that were implemented by the Central Bank of the Netherlands.

Dutch Central Bank Revokes Stringent Measures for Crypto Withdrawals

Dutch cryptocurrency exchange Bitonic has announced on May 20 that the Central Bank of Dutch, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has reversed its decision to enforce stricter measures for withdrawing cryptocurrencies from exchanges.

Last year, the DNB imposed limitations on cryptocurrency exchanges with an additional verification measure regarding Bitcoin addresses under the Sanctions Act. No registration would be made if the strict DNB requirement was not met, per the rule.

Dutch crypto exchange Bitonic said that the DNB had effectively forced it to enhance the verification process in reference to the Sanction Act. According to the Sanction Act compliance, institutions must check incoming and outgoing payment transfers, and block and report them to DNB.

In January 2021, Bitonic took to court seeking a preliminary injunction to put an end to the Know Your Customer (KYC) rule.

In a complaint statement filed on March 2021, Bitonic said:

“Aside from the fact that verifying every address for every transaction has no technical merit, it is also a serious violation of our customers’ right to privacy.”

Bitonic is Removing Wallet-Verification Measures

The Rotterdam District Court has now ruled in favor of Bitonic in a case against the DNB.

“DNB admits that Bitonic was right. It is the outcome of an order by the court that the Dutch supervisor should motivate its registration decision better. In essence, DNB chose to revoke the requirement as laid out in the registration decision,” says Bitonic.

Bitonic also says that DNB has now revoked the registration requirement and stressed it will remove the wallet-verification measures as soon as possible, adding:

“We will no longer ask for all transactions and ask for a copy of your wallet screenshot. We will further investigate which other simplifications are possible.”