The European arm of the Coinbase exchange is required to pay $24.7 million fine to the Central Bank of Ireland for failing in its obligation as a VASP in the region.
The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) has asked Coinbase Europe Limited (CBEL) to pay a fine of nearly €21.5 million, equivalent to $24.7 million. This is for failing in its obligations to monitor money laundering and terrorist financing. Per an official statement from the cryptocurrency exchange, the settlement concerns coding errors that affected transaction monitoring in 2021 and 2022.
Coinbase Fails in Duty as European VASP
Coinbase announced that it has agreed to a $24.7 million settlement with the Central Bank of Ireland. This is a penalty for certain technical coding errors that impacted how the crypto exchange monitored transactions in the region between 2021 and 2022.
The CBI determined the fine’s value by reviewing the company’s average annual revenue for 2021 to 2024, which totaled €417 million. It is worth noting that CBEL is a registered Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Europe.
In 2023, it received a license in France to fully provide crypto services in the country. Over the years, it has expanded significantly and now ranks among the most active VASPs in the region. It is obligated to monitor customer transactions on an ongoing basis, looking out for suspicious moves.
If any suspicious transaction is spotted, probably related to money laundering or terrorist financing, the exchange is required to escalate it to the appropriate authorities.
However, CBEL failed to meet this legal requirement and left about 31 transactions unsupervised over a 12-month period. It is worth noting that the value of these transactions exceeded €176 billion.
Coinbase Upholds Regulatory Compliance
The decision to settle with CBI reflects Coinbase’s commitment to upholding compliance across several jurisdictions. It attempted to fix coding errors in its Transaction Monitoring System (TMS), but reports noted that some loopholes remained.
Currently, the exchange is expanding its operations across different regions. In mid-October, it announced a fresh investment in CoinDCX, one of India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges. This was a strategic move towards growing across India and the Middle East.
In addition, Coinbase acquired Echo, an on-chain capital raising platform, to create more accessible, efficient, and transparent capital markets.
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