The crypto ecosystem in Netherlands is getting a major upgrade with two of its prominent players — Blockrise and bunq — joining forces this week. Blockrise, in an announcement shared with The Coin Headlines on Wednesday, said it will now be offering Bitcoin-compatible bank accounts for the users of bunq in Netherlands.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, bunq is a digital-first neobank founded in 2012. It offers multi-currency fintech services with high interest rates and automated budgeting to individual as well as business clients. Blockrise, on the other hand, is a BTC-only company that offers Bitcoin custody, trading, and management services. It was founded in 2017 and is located in Rotterdam.
The Blockrise-bunq partnership
As part of the partnership, bunq will be stepping into the arena of banking-as-a-service (BaaS). It will get access to Blockrise’s BTC-friendly banking infrastructure directly into its platform. The aim is to cut the friction between traditional banking and crypto exchanges for Netherland’s growing crypto community.
“Up to now, Dutch Bitcoin users had to choose between security and convenience. With bunq’s infrastructure, they get both – a bank account that works seamlessly with Bitcoin, protected by the Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme,” Jos Lazet, Founder and CEO of Blockrise said in the Wednesday announcement.
The Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS), designed by the Dutch government, is aimed at protecting citizens’ money placed under the custody of Dutch banks incase the banks go bankrupt. Under the standard protection, the scheme provides a protection on deposits ranging from 1 cent to EUR 100,000 (roughly $116,920) per person, per bank. The elaborate scheme falls under the authority of the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
“By partnering with innovators like Blockrise, we empower them to build products that match their users’ wants and needs in a trusted and secure platform,” said Joe Wilson, Chief Evangelist at bunq as commenting on the development.
Netherland’s crypto committment
The Dutch population, as of April 2026, stands at 18.4 million. Data by research platform Triple-a estimates that over 520,000 people, or around 3.04 percent of the Netherlands’ total population hold crypto assets.
Since Netherlands is part of the European Union (EU), its crypto ecosystem is governed under EU’s crypto-focussed MiCA laws that defines licencing regimes, consumer protection, and legal compliance guidelines for members of the crypto community.
Internally, Netherlands’ own financial authorities are also working to tighten its crypto governance regime. The country is controversially mulling a 36 percent tax on gains from crypto, stocks, and bonds among others. The discussions had sparked major protests from the investors in February this year forcing the government to re-consider. The country plans to bring crypto under its tax regime by 2028.
The country is also laying focus on identifying and punishing crypto firms running unlicenced operations. In November last year, for instance, Netherlands imposed a $2.6 million fine on the OKX exchange for conducting unlicenced operations between 2023 and 2024 and failing to report unusual crypto transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).