Coinbase Fined €21.5 Million by Central Bank of Ireland Over Major AML Failures

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Europe Limited €21.5 million (approximately $25 million) for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) rules between April 2021 and March ￰0￱ marks the regulator’s first-ever disciplinary action against a crypto ￰1￱ to the Central Bank, Coinbase Europe — a subsidiary of Coinbase Group that offers cryptocurrency exchange and wallet services — failed to properly monitor over 30 million transactions worth more than €176 ￰2￱ transactions represented about 31% of the company’s total activity during a period of technical ￰3￱ regulator stated that Coinbase took nearly three years to review all problematic transactions, eventually filing 2,708 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the Irish Financial Intelligence ￰4￱ reports involved suspected cases of money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and child ￰5￱ Central Bank emphasized that real-time monitoring and prompt reporting are “the cornerstones of an effective anti-money-laundering system.” Delays, it said, can “seriously impede law enforcement’s ability to detect, investigate, and prosecute crimes.” Coinbase Europe acknowledged the violations and accepted the ￰6￱ company breached its obligations under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 by failing to monitor 30.4 million transactions and by not maintaining adequate internal controls.

A Warning Shot for the Crypto Industry Deputy Governor Colm Kincaid said: “To be effective in combatting financial crime, law enforcement agencies rely on regulated financial institutions to have systems in place to monitor transactions and report ￰7￱ failure of such a system within any financial institution creates an opportunity for criminals to evade detection – and criminals will take that opportunity,” Kincaid added that crypto assets have “technological features that make them particularly attractive to criminals,” calling for stronger controls across the ￰8￱ initial fine of €30.7 million was reduced by 30% under the Undisputed Facts Settlement, resulting in the €21.5 million ￰9￱ decision still awaits confirmation by the High Court of ￰10￱ Central Bank noted that this is the 162nd case under its administrative sanctions program, bringing total fines issued to over €428 million ($495 million).

This enforcement comes amid tightening European ￰11￱ June 2025, Coinbase received a license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in Luxembourg. A month later, the European Anti-Money Laundering Agency (AMLA) unveiled new rules for crypto companies, including a ban on anonymous wallets and privacy-focused coins.