What BTC Direct does

BTC Direct Europe B.V. is a Dutch cryptocurrency exchange platform founded in 2013 and headquartered in Nijmegen, Netherlands, operating across six European markets (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Spain) with full localization in six languages. The platform enables retail consumers, businesses, and high-value traders to buy and sell over 50 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Cardano, and others) against the euro using a broad range of local and international payment methods including iDEAL, SEPA bank transfer, credit card, Bancontact, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Sofort. The platform operates on a non-custodial basis, meaning customers maintain control of their own wallets and crypto holdings.

The product portfolio extends beyond core spot exchange transactions to include Private Trading Desk service for orders exceeding €50,000 with dedicated account managers, dedicated Business Crypto Accounts for corporate customers, automatic Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) recurring purchases, a Salary-in-Bitcoin payroll service, a hardware wallet e-commerce shop, a fiat onramp service, and a Developer API for partner integrations. BTC Direct has built a partner ecosystem spanning hardware wallet providers (Ledger, Trezor, Bitbox), software wallets (Trust Wallet, Exodus, Meld, Xaman, Solflare, Coinomi), fiat onramp aggregator Onramper, and DEX access via Uniswap. The firm holds a license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM, license number 41000009) and is MiCAR certified, enabling compliant crypto-asset services across the EU.

The business model is primarily transaction-based, with fees embedded in the displayed reference price for crypto purchases and sales, plus ancillary revenue from hardware sales and business services. The company serves over 1.5 million cumulative customers with a 4.4/5 TrustScore across 10,860+ Trustpilot reviews. BTC Direct raised approximately $12.9 million in a single disclosed funding round in October 2020, has 51-100 employees, and operates as an independent private company with no parent, no subsidiaries beyond the affiliated marketing entity Churchwood Partners B.V., and an explicit exclusion of U.S. persons from its services.

Name

BTC Direct

Legal name

BTC Direct Europe B.V.

Website

https://btcdirect.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

BTC Direct is a Dutch cryptocurrency exchange platform founded in 2013 that enables European consumers, businesses, and high-value traders to buy and sell over 50 cryptocurrencies via euro across six European markets through a MiCAR-certified, non-custodial platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cryptocurrency Exchange

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail Crypto Brokerages (Simple Buy/Sell) (FSADAAAB)

Keywords

• Cryptocurrency exchange platform
• Crypto trading services
• Fiat onramp services
• Digital asset brokerage
• Crypto asset services

Headquarters

HQ city

Nijmegen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Crypto Transaction Fees: BTC Direct charges fees on buy and sell transactions of crypto assets. The (reference) price displayed includes the fees charged by BTC Direct. For buy transactions, the price is set when BTC Direct receives payment. For sell transactions, the final price is determined when crypto assets appear on the blockchain. Network fees are displayed separately and BTC Direct charges only the actual network fee without additional transfer fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

BTC Direct operates a European cryptocurrency exchange platform (BTC Direct Europe B.V.) where retail and business customers can buy and sell 50+ cryptocurrencies against EUR via multiple fiat payment methods including iDEAL, SEPA bank transfer, credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Bancontact, and Sofort. The platform is non-custodial, meaning customers retain control of their crypto in their own wallets. Complementary services include a Private Trading Desk for orders of €50,000+, dedicated business accounts, automatic DCA investing, a Salary-in-Bitcoin payroll service, a hardware wallet shop, a fiat onramp, and a developer API.

Product overview

BTC Direct is a European cryptocurrency exchange platform founded in 2013, operating as a non-custodial platform where users maintain control of their own crypto assets. The core product enables buying and selling of over 50 cryptocurrencies via fiat currencies. The platform architecture includes the core exchange service, a Private Trading Desk for high-value institutional traders (€50K+ orders), dedicated Business Crypto Accounts for corporate users, automatic investing via Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA), a Salary in Bitcoin service for payroll integration, a Crypto Hardware Shop for wallet procurement, a Fiat Onramp service, and a Developer API for technical integrations. The platform serves over 1.5 million customers across Europe with multilingual support and is regulated under MiCAR with AFM licensing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BTC Direct Platform (Crypto Exchange) Non-custodial European crypto exchange platform enabling retail and business customers to buy and sell 50+ cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Dogecoin, Chainlink, Polkadot, etc.) against EUR via iDEAL, SEPA, credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Bancontact, and Sofort. Pricing updates every 10 seconds; minimum purchases from €30.
• Private Trading Desk Dedicated account manager service for high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients executing crypto buy/sell orders of €50,000 or more, providing phone-based personalized trading assistance.
• Business Crypto Accounts Corporate accounts that allow companies to buy and sell crypto assets under their business name, with company-registered bank accounts and compliance-ready onboarding for business crypto transactions.
• Salary in Bitcoin Payroll service that enables employers to pay employees partially or fully in Bitcoin, converting salary payouts into cryptocurrency for participating employees.
• Crypto Hardware Shop Online store selling hardware wallets and crypto security hardware from partner brands including Ledger, Trezor, and Bitbox for secure offline cryptocurrency storage.
• Fiat Onramp Dedicated fiat-to-crypto onramp service accessible at onramp.btcdirect.eu that enables new users to convert EUR fiat currency to cryptocurrency via credit card and other payment methods.
• Developer API API services for developers and partners enabling integration with BTC Direct's crypto trading infrastructure, used by exchanges, wallets, and crypto-related companies to place orders where BTC Direct acts as counterparty.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1.5 million+ customers served since 2013
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• OnramperminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFiat onramp partner enabling credit card and other payment methods for purchasing crypto via Onramper integration.
• Churchwood Partners B.V.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliated entity processing personal data for informational purposes (crypto news and market developments). Churchwood Partners B.V. shares relevant information about crypto market, market volatility, important developments, and new applications with customers.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Bitvavo: Amsterdam-based retail crypto exchange serving the same Dutch and broader EU customer base with a similar fee-based simple-buy/sell model. Direct head-to-head competitor in BTC Direct's home market.
• Bitpanda: Vienna-based European crypto broker offering simple buy/sell of 50+ cryptocurrencies with local payment methods across multiple EU countries. Closest comparable in product, geography and customer segmentation.

Broad incumbents

• Coinbase: Largest publicly listed US crypto exchange with growing EU presence under MiCAR. Competes with BTC Direct on the same retail brokerage proposition but with vastly greater capital, brand and product breadth.
• Kraken: US-headquartered global crypto exchange expanding in Europe. Overlaps with BTC Direct on retail spot trading and offers broader services (staking, margin, derivatives) absent from BTC Direct's platform.
• Revolut: UK/EU neobank that has offered in-app crypto trading for years. Reaches a far larger European retail audience than BTC Direct and represents a structural distribution threat in the same demographic.
• Binance: Global crypto exchange that has been progressively forced out of EU jurisdictions under MiCAR. Where still accessible, competes on price and coin selection; the ongoing regulatory contraction is a relative tailwind for licensed European peers like BTC Direct.
• eToro: Multi-asset broker with deep European retail penetration offering crypto alongside stocks and ETFs. Competes for the same first-time European retail investor that BTC Direct's 'starter' segment targets.

Emerging players

• Trade Republic: German/EU neobank offering crypto trading as part of a broader brokerage app to millions of retail users. Threatens BTC Direct's German-speaking retail flow with embedded, low-friction access.
• Relai: Swiss Bitcoin-only onramp/app with a strong DACH following and a similarly simple retail UX. Comparable product scope (smaller, single-asset) and overlapping customer base in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Others

• Onramper: Fiat-to-crypto onramp aggregator that integrates BTC Direct as one of its providers. Useful as a channel peer — both firms occupy adjacent layers of the same European onramp stack.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BTC_Direct
• Facebookfacebook.com/btcdirect
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/btcdirect

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BTC Direct