Coinmerce

Coinmerce is a Netherlands-based retail and institutional crypto broker offering trading, yield, and custody across more than 350 digital assets. Founded in 2017 with the stated mission of making crypto accessible to ordinary people, the platform reached over 500,000 registered users and in November 2025 became one of the first Dutch platforms to hold a full Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) authorisation from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). Solana (SOL) is among its tradable assets.

Background and Corporate Structure

Coinmerce was started in 2017 by Jaap de Bruijn from the Netherlands, headquartered at Beechavenue 140, Schiphol-Rijk — a business park adjacent to Amsterdam Airport. The founding premise was pragmatic: reduce the friction that kept mainstream European savers out of cryptocurrency markets. In the years since, the company has grown into a four-entity group:

• Coinmerce — the consumer-facing trading and custody platform
• BLOX Crypto Broker — a simplified trading interface targeting entry-level retail users
• Quantfi — in-house market-making operations that provide liquidity on the platform
• Coinmerce Capital — an investment and acquisition vehicle; in November 2024 it acquired BlockchainTraders in a strategic merger designed to expand the group's retail footprint

The group's vertical integration — combining a retail broker, a market maker, and an institutional fund — is unusual among European crypto platforms of comparable size.

Regulatory Status

Coinmerce holds an authorisation from the AFM as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) under MiCAR for the following service categories: exchange services (buying and selling crypto for fiat and crypto-to-crypto swaps), custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, and transfer services. The AFM authorisation was announced on 6 November 2025, following the expiry of the Dutch transition period under the previous DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank) registration regime on 30 June 2025.

Under MiCAR's harmonised EU passport framework, the AFM authorisation allows Coinmerce to passport its services into other EU member states. The company has taken initial steps into France and Germany. The French financial regulator AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers) lists Coinmerce B.V. on its white-list of authorised crypto-asset service providers operating under free provision of services.

One material carve-out: Coinmerce's yield product is explicitly noted as outside MiCAR's scope and is not covered by the AFM authorisation.

Products and Services

Trading

Users can buy, sell, and swap across 350+ cryptocurrencies via a web interface and mobile application (iOS and Android). The product is positioned for retail self-direction rather than professional or algorithmic trading — there is no order book interface, and pricing is broker-quoted rather than exchange-matched. Supported assets include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Cardano, and a broad long tail of altcoins.

Yield

Coinmerce offers a yield product that advertises up to 14% APY, distributed as automatic weekly rewards on qualifying holdings. Because this product falls outside MiCAR's current service definitions, it does not carry the same regulatory wrapper as the brokerage and custody tiers.

Custody

The platform's custody product is targeted at clients who want institutional-grade storage without managing private keys independently. Asset storage infrastructure is provided through Fireblocks, an institutional custody and settlement platform used by a range of regulated financial institutions. This partnership is disclosed on the Coinmerce security page as the core of its cold and warm storage arrangement.

Physical Store

Coinmerce operates a physical crypto store in the Netherlands — an unusual distribution channel among digital asset brokers — where users can transact in person.

Security Architecture

Coinmerce's stated security stack covers several layers:

• Custody infrastructure: Fireblocks provides institutional-grade key management and asset transfer
• Transaction monitoring: Chainalysis is integrated for blockchain analytics, AML screening, and compliance flagging
• Identity verification: iDenfy handles KYC onboarding
• Blockchain transparency: Blockchair is listed as a verification partner
• User-side controls: Two-factor authentication, biometric login (Face ID / fingerprint), wallet address whitelisting, device verification for new sign-ins, and PIN codes
• Staffing: All employees undergo PESCHECK background screening and obtain a Certificate of Good Conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag / VOG) under Dutch law; staff receive ongoing fraud and scam detection training

No independent smart contract audit, proof-of-reserves publication, or external security certification is publicly disclosed, which is consistent with the platform's broker model — Coinmerce holds assets on behalf of users rather than operating a non-custodial protocol.

Solana Relevance

Coinmerce is not a Solana-native application, nor a DeFi protocol or on-chain program. Its connection to the Solana ecosystem is as a fiat-to-SOL on-ramp and custody layer for European retail users. For holders who want regulated custody and yield on SOL without interacting directly with Solana wallets or DeFi protocols, Coinmerce provides a straightforward broker channel backed by AFM oversight and Fireblocks infrastructure. The platform's SOL offering is identical in mechanics to its other supported assets: quoted buy/sell pricing, custody in Fireblocks vaults, and eligibility for the weekly yield product.

Market Position

Coinmerce operates in a competitive segment alongside larger European platforms such as Bitvavo (also Dutch and AFM-licensed under MiCAR) and Kraken. Its differentiators are the group's vertical structure — combining brokerage, market-making, and investment operations — and its early MiCAR authorisation, which positions it ahead of the many European platforms still completing the compliance transition. The 500,000 registered user figure places it in the mid-tier of European retail brokers. Its EU passport to France and Germany signals a deliberate growth strategy beyond its Dutch home market.