Amdax

Amdax is a Dutch crypto asset service provider founded in Amsterdam in 2019. It occupies an unusual position in the European digital asset landscape: a full-stack regulated platform that combines self-directed trading, discretionary asset management, institutional-grade custody, and staking services under one roof. The company's stated aim is to bridge the gap between traditional wealth management and digital assets, serving high-net-worth individuals, family offices, corporates, and institutional clients who want professional-grade exposure to crypto without sacrificing compliance standards or security guarantees.

The Problem Amdax Addresses

European investors seeking crypto exposure have historically faced a binary choice: use a retail exchange with minimal regulatory oversight, or work with legacy financial institutions that offered little or no digital asset access. Amdax is built around the thesis that a segment of the market — serious investors with larger portfolios — prefers the depth of service, personal guidance, and regulatory rigor normally associated with private banking. Its positioning as "serious about investing in crypto" is explicit: it does not compete on low fees or breadth of speculative tokens. It targets conservative, compliance-first capital.

How It Works

Amdax offers three primary service modes, each suited to a different investor profile.

Self-Trading gives clients direct access to 40 screened cryptocurrencies through the Amdax platform. Users manage their own portfolios with full control over trade timing and position sizing. All assets held in self-directed accounts are stored in full-reserve custody — Amdax does not lend or rehypothecate client assets.

Managed Investing is the platform's flagship differentiation. Seven distinct managed strategies are available, ranging from conservative to growth-oriented, each managed by Amdax's in-house portfolio management team. The flagship "Select" strategy combines fundamental analysis (asset selection by fund managers) with a quantitative layer that determines entry timing, position sizing, and exit signals based on price trend algorithms. Managed accounts come with dedicated relationship managers and are accessible from a minimum portfolio of approximately €25,000. Clients can book phone, email, or in-person consultations at the Amsterdam office.

Business Accounts extend these services to holding companies, cooperatives, and other legal entities that want crypto as part of a corporate treasury or investment mandate.

Supported Assets

Amdax screens assets before listing them, currently supporting 40 cryptocurrencies. The listed assets span a range of categories: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as the two major holdings; Layer-1 protocols including Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), NEAR Protocol, Algorand, Hedera, and Tezos; Layer-2 networks including Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism; payment-focused assets such as XRP, Litecoin, Stellar, and Bitcoin Cash; DeFi protocols including Chainlink, Uniswap, Aave, Curve, Lido, and Ethena; and a selection of other assets including Quant (QNT), Cosmos (ATOM), BNB, Jupiter (JUP), Ondo, and Concordium (CCD). USDC is supported as the primary stablecoin. The inclusion of Jupiter — a Solana-native DEX aggregator — alongside SOL itself signals deliberate Solana ecosystem representation in the asset curation.

Security and Custody Architecture

Amdax's custody model is its most distinctive technical attribute. The platform holds all client assets on a strict one-to-one basis: every unit of crypto shown in a client account corresponds to an actual unit held in segregated cold storage. No assets are lent to third parties, used as collateral, or otherwise rehypothecated. This full-reserve model insulates clients from the counterparty risk that contributed to the collapses of centralized platforms during 2022.

Client crypto is held through a legal ring-fencing structure via Stichting Amdax Payments, a separate foundation under Dutch law that protects assets in the event of Amdax's insolvency. Cold storage infrastructure is provided in partnership with Custodiex, a UK-based quantum-resistant custody specialist in which Amdax holds a strategic stake. Staking infrastructure is delivered through Blockdaemon, a major validator operator active across multiple proof-of-stake networks including Solana. Ethereum staking is additionally handled via Kiln.

Regulatory and Audit Standing

Amdax has pursued regulatory compliance more aggressively than virtually any other Dutch or EU crypto firm. In 2020 it became the first crypto asset service provider in the Netherlands to register with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the Dutch Central Bank, under the WFTBI anti-money laundering framework. That DNB registration remains publicly verifiable on the DNB register.

In June 2025, Amdax received a MiCAR (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) license from the AFM, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, becoming one of the first firms in the EU to hold the full MiCAR authorization. The MiCAR license covers custody, spot trading, portfolio management, and crypto transfer services, and grants Amdax EU passporting rights across all 27 member states without requiring local registration in each country.

On the audit side, Amdax commissioned ISAE 3000 assurance audits on its custody processes, conducted by Grant Thornton with Deloitte consulting. It completed an ISAE 3000 Type I audit in 2023 and an ISAE 3000 Type II audit in 2025 — at the time of completion, the first Type II custody certification achieved by any crypto firm in the European Union.

Team and History

Amdax was co-founded in 2019 by Lucas Wensing, Melvin Lazeron, and Valentino Cremona. Wensing, who serves as CEO, previously founded StartReady, a Dutch technology company acquired by KPN, the Netherlands' largest telecommunications group. In December 2020 Amdax acquired BurgerCrypto.com, a crypto asset management firm run by Marcel Burger, who joined as Chief Investment Officer. Burger had been active in professional crypto portfolio management since 2017.

The research and portfolio management team includes Peter Slagter and Bert Slagter (analysts and writers), Tim Stolte and Ries Schoot Uiterkamp (quantitative portfolio managers), and Serge Vergouwe (senior quantitative portfolio manager). Amdax also operates a research division that publishes in-depth market reports, a weekly newsletter ("Amdax Weekly"), and a podcast called "Een Nieuwe Koers" (A New Course) aimed at Dutch-language crypto investors.

A separate Amdax Ventures arm invests in and provides services — including market-making, staking infrastructure, and strategic advisory — to early-stage blockchain projects. Current disclosed portfolio companies include Concordium, a blockchain focused on identity-layer compliance.

In August 2025 Amdax raised $23.3 million (€20 million) to launch the Amsterdam Bitcoin Treasury Strategy (AMBTS), a separate vehicle modeled on MicroStrategy's Bitcoin accumulation approach, targeting eventual listing on Euronext Amsterdam.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

Amdax lists Solana (SOL) as a supported Layer-1 asset for both self-directed trading and managed portfolio inclusion. Its staking infrastructure partner Blockdaemon operates as a Solana validator, making SOL staking a natural extension of its existing service stack. Jupiter (JUP), the dominant Solana DEX aggregator, also appears in the Amdax asset lineup, reflecting the team's recognition of Solana's DeFi ecosystem. For European institutional or high-net-worth investors seeking regulated, full-reserve exposure to Solana, Amdax represents one of the few MiCAR-licensed pathways available within the EU.