Central Bank of Ireland Fines Coinbase Europe €21.5 Million for AML Breaches

The Central Bank of Ireland has imposed a €21,464,734 fine on Coinbase Europe Limited for failures in meeting anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) obligations between 2021 and 2025.

According to the regulator, Coinbase Europe failed to adequately monitor over 30 million transactions, valued at more than €176 billion, due to configuration issues in its transaction monitoring system. These unmonitored transactions represented about 31% of the company’s total activity during the affected period.

It reportedly took nearly three years for Coinbase Europe to retrospectively monitor the impacted transactions, resulting in the submission of 2,708 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to the Financial Intelligence Unit. The reports related to suspicions of serious criminal activity, including money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, cyberattacks, and child exploitation.

The Central Bank stated that Coinbase breached its obligations under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 by failing to:

• Properly monitor 30,442,437 transactions;

• Maintain adequate internal AML and CTF policies and controls; and

• Conduct enhanced monitoring for 184,790 transactions.

Under a settlement agreement, the Central Bank determined a total sanction of €30,663,906, which was reduced by 30% to €21,464,734 in line with its settlement discount scheme. Coinbase Europe accepted the findings and the sanction. The penalty remains subject to confirmation by the High Court.