The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Europe €21.5 million for AML violations.
Date: 2025-11-10 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
The Central Bank of Ireland announced a fine of €21.5 million (approximately $25 million) against Coinbase Europe Limited for failure to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) requirements. According to the regulator, the violations occurred between April 2021 and March 2025. This marks the Bank of Ireland's first disciplinary action against a company in the crypto sector.
The regulator's report states that Coinbase Europe, a subsidiary of Coinbase Group, failed to adequately monitor more than 30 million transactions, totaling over €176 billion. These transactions accounted for approximately one-third of the company's total transactions during the period when the technical failures in the monitoring system were observed.
It took Coinbase nearly three years to remediate the breach. Following an internal investigation, the company filed 2,708 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the Irish Financial Intelligence Unit. These reports included suspected crimes, including money laundering, fraud, cybercrime, drug trafficking, and cases of sexual exploitation of minors.
The Central Bank of Ireland emphasized that timely transaction monitoring and prompt filing of STRs are key elements of the AML system. Failure to do so undermines law enforcement's ability to detect and investigate financial crimes.
Coinbase Europe admitted its guilt and accepted the regulator's findings. The company violated the Irish Criminal Justice Act 2010 by failing to implement effective controls and oversight mechanisms for suspicious transactions.
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland Colm Kincaid noted that government agencies depend on the proper operation of financial institutions:
"When monitoring systems fail, it creates a loophole for criminals, and they will certainly exploit it," he emphasized. Kincaid added that the characteristics of cryptoassets make them particularly attractive to criminals, so companies operating in this sector must have robust controls in place.
The initial fine was €30.7 million, but was reduced by 30% as part of the Undisputed Facts Settlement. The final penalty is subject to approval by the High Court of Ireland.
This case is the 162nd under the Central Bank of Ireland's administrative sanctions program, and the total amount of fines imposed has exceeded €428 million.
The incident occurs amid increased regulation of the crypto industry in Europe. In June 2025, Coinbase received a license in Luxembourg under the MiCA regulation, and a month later, the European Anti-Money Laundering Agency (EAML) introduced new rules for crypto companies, including a ban on anonymous wallets and privacy tokens.
