The big crypto news yesterday was that the Dutch crypto exchange Bitvavo has a problem with a price tag of €280 million. From a recent interview van Quote with Bitvavo CEO Mark Nuvelstijn, it appears that the problems will ultimately not be too bad for the customers themselves.
‘We will always pay Bitvavo customers’
With FTX fresh in the mind, the news yesterday was of course a shock. Bitvavo will receive another €280 million from crypto lending platform Genesis, an amount that it cannot repay due to liquidity problems. A painful blow for an exchange like Bitvavo.
In the interview with Quote, however, Nuvelstijn is clear: ‘We promise to always pay our customers if necessary.’ Yesterday, the exchange already announced that it would fill the gap of € 280 million itself, if the money does not come back at all.
Quote asked the CEO if that means that Bitvavo has $280 million in savings, to which Nuvelstijn simply replied ‘yes’. That should sound good to the many Bitvavo users. This means that the trading platform can absorb the blow.
Bitvavo has no other constructions than with DCG
What is also reassuring is the fact that Bitvavo has no other similar constructions with other parties such as DCG. Digital Currency Group (DCG) is the parent company under which Genesis falls. It is therefore unlikely for now that we will read similar news reports about large amounts that are tied up with other parties.
Earlier, the crypto exchange announced that it was not in danger from the situation at Genesis. Nuvelstijn says: ‘We didn’t know it was a problem’ and that the company was mainly concerned with finding a solution for customers. The words of the CEO now show that there is a solution. If DCG cannot repay the €280 million, Bitvavo will cough up the amount itself, a luxury it has with a number of good profitable years behind it:
“Bitvavo earned a total of €175 million in 2021. In addition, we have always done well in the years before” – said the CEO of Bitvavo to Quote
Want to read more about this Dutch crypto exchange? Read the Bitvavo review on Crypto Insiders here.