Anycoin Direct

Anycoin Direct was a European cryptocurrency brokerage established in 2013 that allowed investors to purchase, sell, and swap digital assets directly through external private wallets. By operating primarily on a non-custodial model, the platform delivered coins straight to user-controlled blockchain addresses rather than maintaining central account balances. In November 2024, Dutch crypto platform Finst announced the acquisition of Anycoin Direct, leading to the migration of its European customer accounts and the eventual sunset of its standalone brokerage services.

Corporate background and leadership

Based in Veghel, Netherlands, the broker was created by founders Lennert, Bram, and Julian, who held roles as co-CEOs and CTO. In January 2015, the startup raised $568K in early-stage funding to scale its operations across Europe. Over its operating lifespan, the company maintained an internal team of roughly 19 employees and established high-profile Dutch sports sponsorships with PSV Eindhoven and Heroes Den Bosch, while partnering with tax platform Blockpit to facilitate local reporting.

Brokerage mechanics and operational model

Unlike traditional centralized exchanges that maintain order books and user custodial accounts, Anycoin Direct was a direct-settlement retail broker. Users selected an asset from a catalog of 57 cryptocurrencies, completed payment through European payment rails such as SEPA bank transfers, and received their purchased tokens at a personal wallet address. This structure removed internal custodial balances. Because of this setup, the broker did not maintain internal custodial balances.

Acquisition, shutdown, and migration

In November 2024, Finst reached an agreement to acquire Anycoin Direct's business, combining their customer bases to reach up to 500,000 investors. Anycoin Direct opted not to pursue its own independent authorization under the incoming European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Consequently, between June 10 and June 30, 2025, EU customer accounts were formally transitioned over to Finst. Standalone trading operations at Anycoin Direct ceased, and its primary web domain was permanently redirected to Finst.

Risks and structural trade-offs

Standalone operations are now completely closed, and past users were migrated to Finst. In addition, the original service never provided derivatives trading or margin leverage, catering purely to spot settlement.