Bitvavo | Crypto trading landscape in EU - Remy van der Nagel | ETHDam III - 2025

Welcome to Easter to [Music] Isa and au and good morning. Welcome back to Etham. Um I'm going to give good energy here in the hope that it travels through the rest of the building and it's going to be amazing. The hackathon is actually ending at 10:00 a.m.

, right? And so it actually has just finished. So I imagine everyone's just submitted their stuff, and the rest of the day is going to be absolute organized chaos in terms of people going upstairs doing the hackathon judging, then people coming here and presenting. So it's going to be a real adventure. I actually think Sunday mornings are my favorite day of ETHAM because it's all about the regulation, all about all the the stuff around how regulation is getting in the way of privacy, but also should help maybe get privacy adopted, but that's always a very sketchy territory because privacy is actually necessary for institutional crypto adoption.

If I'm an institution, I don't want every trade to be public on trade on chain. I in an ideal world, right? Um, so yeah, so to kick things off this morning, we have uh Remy from Bit Vavvo, who's going to be talking about retail institutional growth. And Bit Vavvo, I hope this is still true, but does the largest Euro spot volume in Europe globally. Globally, or not just in Europe, globally, which I think is [ __ ] cool.

So, please give it up for Remy. Good morning, everybody. Um yeah, so my name is Remy Fono. I head listings at Bitfavo. It's a a pleasure to be here today and present to you in my hometown.

Um I think a town that's always been known for its financial innovation and for pushing the boundaries in general. And uh since Bitavo is also a native born in Amsterdam, I think um it's not it's it's more than fitting that we talk a little bit about the trends in Europe from Bitfavo's perspective. Bitfo is, as JJ just said, the largest Euro spot exchange in the world. That was actually going to be the key message of my speech at the very end. Um, but now we have that out of the way.

No, thank you so much, JJ. Um, yeah. So, maybe, uh, privacy at a centralized exchange, of course, not so much, but, um, being an integral part of the Dutch crypto community, I think, um, I love for us to play our role and support local communities. And um yeah, it's been great to see what some of you are all building and it's um it's been a privilege just to be able to support a little bit uh contribute to that. So um I will share today some key insights about the European trading market from Bitfavo's perspective.

Um we typically only talk about the Asia and uh the United States of America. Uh and Europe is often overlooked. Maybe not uh surprising to us. We are typically a little bit slower. um maybe less sexy, maybe less wild.

Um but I'm here to tell you that maybe Europe is actually leading on some fronts in this uh in the retail and institutional trading game. So in 2023 an independent study showed that uh global trading volume was 8 billion and surprisingly trading volume in Europe spot trading volume I'm talking about was higher in Europe than for example in Asia 2.3 uh uh 2.1 trillion dollar and Europe is of course a very interesting market very dynamic market uh it's not like the United States where basically you have the you have the different states but a lot of cohesion and a harmonization among states in Europe. Every country of course has its local preferences.

Um it has its local tax rules. It has um um yeah as I said its own language and therefore also provided with a very challenging regulatory uh environment. Every country you would need to obtain a new license for example back in the day. So let's dive a little bit more into Europe and why actually currently there might be the perfect momentum, the perfect storm in Europe coming together for retail and institutional trading adoption. So what construs this perfect storm?

So first it's regulatory clarity. So as I said before uh January 2025 there was basically no harmonization. Every country had its own uh regulatory framework. It was very challenging if you wanted to enter from well we are uh created in Amsterdam then we want to enter the Italian or the German market uh you had to sort apply for a totally different license and maybe um um um held yourself to totally different rules. So with the coming of Micah marketing capital asset regulation that changed since January of this year in the Netherlands we still have a a grandfathering window for for for 6 months but we already see massive changes.

So basically with the introduction of this bill, Europe is the largest regulated crypto market in the world at the moment and exactly you can um you can probably see how that um is uh clarity is very useful for big institutions because now for the first time they know what to expect. um they know crypto is going to be around and they can launch they can launch um uh regulated products and not only uh speculate with uh Bitcoin, Ethereum and the likes but also make it a vital part of their whole business strategy. So that leads uh so another trend in Europe is localization. So we see that if you compare this to the United States or Asia, um Europeans tend to value local trusted uh parties over offshore parties. They like the trusted local players that understand them and their needs um and um and they feel close to them, let's say.

So, ESMA is also uh at the European um enforcing arm of of of the financial law uh is also encouraging uh the localization because they made it clear that um you should prioritize uh you should execute prices at the best uh best execution possible and we and they encourage to source liquidity as much as you can from local European providers. That means that a lot of liquidity is now going to stay inside of Europe whereas previously it would go to offshore exchanges for example. Um then also to properly localize you need local language support. You need local payment methods. You need local support.

Europeans do like the human touch from uh people that understand them. And all of this makes it so that Europe is a very particular market and different from the United States. Then all of this basically leads to consolidation as well. So where it's um actually maybe a shame that it gets harder the entry barrier gets harder for uh smaller players, it does provide a chance um uh for acceleration of of the large trusted players to service their European consumers um uh with compliant products and um in this way we can also now scale. So of course it's a shame that maybe some innovation or like the barrier to entry gets higher but when you have a a predictable and um compliant environment you can scale uh and ramp up up more quickly.

So um skilled trusted platforms are best positions to lead on liquidity and adoption and then you could make the argument that all of this leads to mainstream enablement. Um we all have some um everybody has their own idea of course about crypto. It's you can get very philosophical ideological um but I think it is true to get the mainstream users like real average users that have never heard about a crypto wallet for example or that find it very difficult to operate one that if you have more because of regulatory clarity and because of more institutional players coming in deeper liquidity um more payment options um more more apps period where where cryp crypto has been integrated then all In all, I think this is currently what uh a good step towards adoption of cryptocurrency technology looks like. Then um so if we look at trading volumes, you can see that actually of all euro trading volume 50% over 2024 um has been traded at Bitfavo. So this is not only uh uh on the European market but globally.

So 50% of all spot volume uh took place at Bitfavo and uh this is done by a study of Kaiko in 2024. So who is Bitfavo? As I said we are an exchange the local exchange from Amsterdam. We were born in 2018 as a broker quickly turned it into exchange and uh currently we have more than uh I would say this is already getting out outdated uh 400 employees 400 assets as well and two two million users have signed up with us and uh the interesting part is that almost 80% of that during the last bull market uh came through word of mouth. So we haven't invested or we tried we tried a bunch of things in terms of advertisement but we haven't uh invested a lot of money into traditional advertisement.

We believe in building an easy to use product and then let people do the talking. So that leads to us being available in 27 countries at the moment. We focus on localization always. So we do integrate local language, local payment methods etc etc. Um local tax solutions for example and I think this is what we understood a little bit better than some of the global players.

Every country in Europe is just slightly different and if you don't get it right then people um don't want to use you because it's annoying. So exchange volume has been over 100 billion at the moment and we currently already have 9 billion assets under management. So then to dig just a little bit deeper, I already told you we have at the moment uh already close to 400 trading pairs and if you see that that's more euro trading pairs than all the main competitors as well. And then the it's not only that we have a lot of coins because um I personally don't care about uh the quantity. you care about that your coin is available.

But when you care about that coin and you want to ramp onto the system or ramp off or just want to enable trading strategies, then you care about liquidity. What price do you get? Do you get the price that you expect? And then you see also that BFA is leading on the euro pairs in terms of the average spread and liquidity. So we do go wide, but we also go deep into the books.

Um so to sum it all up, crypto is expanding um rapidly and Europe is a key region surprisingly to many people maybe from the more global scene and I do like I've I've met a bunch of you and it's such an international crowd so I think it's uh really relevant to highlight that it's often overlooked but because of micro regulation coming in you do have a very stable and predictable environment which can also spur growth again and then Bitf was well positioned to uh sort of leverage this momentum and um um yeah capitalize and uh help support all this trading volume in Europe and also as I said with liquidity staying in Europe or staying more in Europe than before I think we're perfectly positioned uh for this crypto storm. So uh to end the the talk I would like we we we didn't create this exchange all by oursel. We rely on our liquidity partners. We rely on project uh teams reaching out to us and working together uh with us on listings. We rely on the community.

We rely on builders such as yourself to uh keep uh crypto technology moving forward. And so if you like to chat with us about any of that or you are an institution for example and you would like to know uh what we can do for institutional offering then please reach out to us. Uh you can actually just find us right here in Amsterdam. Our address of the office is right on the website. Uh you can talk to me.

My colleague Darina is here as well. She'll be taking part in a panel after this. Um and yeah feel free to discuss anything cryptoreated uh with us. It's um it's just a pleasure being here and being able to support this day today. [Applause] Cool.

Thanks so much, Remy. Thanks so much. Do you want to be take some questions from the audience? Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah.

We're going to have be talking about this topic for the next half an hour as well, but um might as well while Rey's here. Um, one question I have for you is what is the most uh what's the most exciting thing that you think is going to happen in crypto in the next like two years? It doesn't have to be a market prediction, but is there anything that you're looking forward to? I think I'm most excited about the like the increase in optimization of just user experience. So I think account abstraction stuff uh of course has been sort of uh a club to to death by now in terms of the amount of panels that we've had about this.

But uh if you can uh combine this this sort of self custody but then have also the benefit of the old school custody where somebody could save you once you lose your password that's going to be massive. That's going to then lead to a variety of new applications coming in. um which hopefully makes it so that you don't even wonder how how does blockchain technology exactly work. You just use it. It's just more efficient, more transparent, automated, programmable.

Um so I think I see that happening. We see that happening over the past few years even with the memecoin casino and speculation that did drive financial uh um innovation or innovation in apps on certain blockchains. Um the rise of decentralized exchanges. Of course, I represent the centralized exchange, but I'm really excited about the future of decentralized uh trading as well. Uh we'll have to see how that develops.

There's been some attacks on, for example, Hyperliquid and you see some centralized elements kicking uh in immediately. Um but then they yeah sort of uh fixed that. Um so if you if you get that and we can truly get sort of decentralized trading at scale at speed that's super exciting for me as well. Um I think Bit Favage is here to help um build the best retail trading platform that we can be and we will leave all the uh super exciting decentralized uh apps up to the decentralized side of the community. Yeah, and that's fair.

And the reality is is most users start their journey through a centralized exchange or some form of centralized service. As long as we still have the euro and the dollar, we need to somehow get into the Well, let's TVD TV. Um so let's start at the top. Um, do you see crypto being actually used in the Netherlands at the moment? Any use cases you see?

Um, I imagine so. It's not like you can buy your bread at the at the bakery for It really annoys me actually. Well, you see the the the rise in crypto payment cards, of course. So, you can argue that is using crypto. Um I see you don't see it like dayto-day as much but I see a lot of uh again financial innovation behind the behind this uh screen.

So you have the traditional banks and you have the big market making firms all looking into crypto diversifying their strategies getting into DeFi market making in DeFi um improving money flows. You say you see stable coin adoption going up. I think the the United States will play the biggest role in that for now. But um you you see a bunch of new stable coins coming up, compliant stable coins in Europe as well. So in that sense, I do see um crypto adoption happening, although it's not yet at the stage where where it's in our everyday life.

Um but probably by the by the time it is in our everyday life, you you don't realize anymore that it's even crypto. You'll just call it money or community money, something else uh like that. That would be the goal. That would be the goal. Um, this rounding question for me is if with real world assets becoming a thing, will Bit Valvo potentially be listing those like RWA stuff in the future?

Um, yes. So, I cannot disclose too much about what we'll do in the future. For now, uh, we are not too focused on that. Um, also have to say on a personal note, I do very much dislike the whole RWA label. It's just uh I I get it gets marketing, it gets traction, but uh yeah, we've had Ethereum since 2016 now, and you can perfectly well tokenize stuff in an Ethereum smart contract.

Then what is an RWA blockchain? Is it more like uh do we need extra privacy features or extra speed? We always need more speed. We always need it to be cheaper. So this whole RWA thing has been a personal uh nuisance to me.

Um but in of course it is one of the most tokenization is one of the most interesting use cases of crypto in general. Um so we will see I think it's early still. Everybody's trying uh I think some other exchanges recently announced that they will uh um offer some some tokenized stocks but I don't know that's not an legal framework yet. So so the regulatory framework has to catch up. Um and actually people also still have to start caring.

They they don't see the benefits yet like we we see it of course but like mainstream people. So I think it might be five and even 10 years but probably 5 years with the current speed. Uh I see that becoming a bigger thing and then as I said bit will focus on being the best retail trading platform we can be. So uh if it's a big thing we'll definitely support it. Cool.

Thanks for sharing. Uh the next question and I hope you can comment on this. It says how do you personally feel about KYC and travel rule and stuff like that. You can say pass. Um I will say that I also I came into crypto very early 2017.

Um I think we've all when once you enter crypto there's so many rabbit holes to get into history and money and psychology and economic behavior and uh and you grow and definitely my mindset back then was more of a anti-establishment uh anti the banks we just with the financial crisis in in the back of our heads. Uh so I thought here's a system truly for the people by the people and then and that that means ultimate privacy so that's always good I think uh but also no KYC and we don't need the governments but I have personally uh been on a journey over the last 8 years and um when when something bad happens to you and there's nobody that can help you it's because nobody understands this stuff and you're all doing this all by yourself so that the police uh isn't isn't aware regulators aren't aware nobody can help you and I think for some people that's fine but We live in a society together and we um we build a lot of things together that we I think benefits the community and if you want to be part of that society, you have to go into a constructive dialogue with your regulators and you have to um true adoption looks like this. I think you put some water with the wine. Um I think we do want to stop crime as much as we can. It should it's a slippery slope trying to stop all crime and then eliminating all privacy.

Uh so I am concerned about it but I yeah so I I think um this in this society I think this is roughly how it needs to it needs to go and then if you feel like hey that's not for me nowadays we have more and more the freedom to move all over the world. Uh jobs can be on the laptop and you can go to certain countries where they think where it fits your values and norms a bit better. Um and if you wouldn't like to do KYC etc. So, I think that's my uh nuanced answer here. Completely fair.

I'm going to comment on it in a second. Um, last question that I'll ask and the other question, you can find Remy in private. Um, is Batvo planning to release a payment card? Hint hint, wink wink. Cannot disclose it to me.

No comment. No comment. Okay. Well, completely fair. Find Remy in private.

Um, really appreciate you taking the time this morning, Remy. It's been an absolute pleasure. Please give a round of applause to Remy from Bit Vavvo.