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Dutch households and pension funds accumulated $1.4 billion in crypto-linked securities by October 2025, up from $94 million in 2020, according to Netherlands central bank data that shows a 15-fold surge driven by rising bitcoin prices and growing institutional adoption of regulated digital asset products.
The increase, recorded in the Netherlands and spanning the past five years, reflects growing participation by households, pension funds, and investment vehicles, driven largely by price appreciation in crypto markets and a concentration in a small number of securities.
The central bank said the holdings—spread across exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded notes (ETNs), and crypto treasury shares—lhave grown rapidly since 2020, when indirect exposure stood at just $94 million.
Despite the rise, officials stressed that Dutch crypto investment remains marginal within the broader financial system, accounting for “only 0.03% of the Netherlands’ total securities holdings,” — Netherlands central bank, in its analysis.
The data show that households and pension funds have been the primary drivers of Dutch crypto investment through indirect instruments. By the end of October 2025, Dutch households held approximately €182 million in crypto ETFs and €213 million in ETNs, reflecting growing retail appetite for regulated exposure to digital assets.
Investment funds also held around €40 million in crypto ETFs, while pension funds emerged as the largest institutional holders of crypto treasury shares.
Pension funds acquired about €287 million worth of digital asset treasury (DAT) stocks, making them the single largest institutional group in that category. Households, meanwhile, held roughly €243 million in shares of companies that keep crypto-assets on their balance sheets.
These figures underscore how Dutch crypto investment has expanded beyond individual investors to include long-term institutional capital.
The central bank emphasized that its analysis focused solely on securities linked to crypto-assets and did not include direct ownership of cryptocurrencies. It also noted that the growth in indirect holdings over the past five years was largely valuation-driven, reflecting the sharp rise in crypto prices over much of the period.
Bitcoin’s price rose by 72% over the five-year period covered by the analysis, before falling to a year-on-year low toward the end of 2025. That volatility inflated the value of existing holdings even as new crypto-linked securities entered the market.
According to the central bank, this dynamic has been a key factor behind the surge in Dutch crypto investment.
Despite the expanding range of crypto-linked securities available, the market remains highly concentrated. Just seven specific instruments account for about 70% of all indirect crypto holdings in the Netherlands, the report found.
This concentration suggests that Dutch crypto investment is being channeled through a narrow set of high-profile products rather than broadly diversified exposure.
Among the notable players is Dutch crypto firm Amdax, which raised €30 million last year to launch the Amsterdam Bitcoin Treasury Strategy (AMBTS). The company has said it aims to accumulate up to 1% of the total Bitcoin supply and plans to use capital markets to steadily increase Bitcoin per share, targeting a long-term valuation of around $26 billion at current prices.
Another digital asset treasury company, Treasury BV, raised $147 million in a private funding round led by Winklevoss Capital and Nakamoto Holdings in September.
The funding enabled the firm to acquire more than 1,000 Bitcoins as it pursues its goal of becoming Europe’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury. The company later entered a binding agreement with MKB Nedsense NV to execute a reverse listing on Euronext Amsterdam.
The expansion of Dutch crypto investment has unfolded alongside easing inflationary pressures in the Netherlands. Statistics Netherlands reported that consumer prices were 2.8% higher in December 2025 than a year earlier, down slightly from 2.9% in November.
The agency said the December figure “matched a flash estimate published earlier in January,” — Statistics Netherlands.
Month-on-month, prices were largely unchanged, providing a relatively stable macroeconomic backdrop as indirect crypto exposure continued to rise.
Statistics Netherlands calculated average inflation for 2025 at 3.3%, meaning consumer prices were, on average, 3.3% higher than in 2024. Using the harmonized index of consumer prices, inflation stood at 2.5% year-on-year in December, compared with 2.6% in November.
Within this environment, Dutch crypto investment has grown despite broader market volatility and tightening financial conditions earlier in the cycle.
While the central bank continues to emphasize the limited systemic impact of these holdings, the rapid increase since 2020 signals a structural shift in how Dutch households and institutions gain exposure to digital assets—favoring regulated securities over direct ownership.
