Central Bank of Ireland Fines Coinbase Europe $24.8M for AML Failures

Core Points - The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Europe $24.8 million for failing to meet anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations, marking the first enforcement action against a cryptocurrency company in Ireland [1] - The fine was imposed due to breaches in transaction monitoring obligations between 2021 and 2022, where over 30 million transactions valued at more than €176 billion were not properly monitored, representing around 31% of all Coinbase Europe transactions [2] Company Actions - Coinbase Europe took nearly three years to complete retrospective monitoring, resulting in 2,708 Suspicious Transaction Reports submitted for potential investigation, which included various serious allegations such as money laundering and fraud [3] - The company identified coding errors in its Transaction Monitoring System that led to overlooked transactions, and has since corrected these errors, leading to the detection of 185,000 transactions requiring further compliance investigation [4] - Coinbase has enhanced its transaction monitoring oversight and strengthened internal testing to prevent future breaches [4] Regulatory Context - The settlement reduced the total sanction from nearly €31 million under the CBI's 30% discount scheme, pending confirmation from the High Court for the sanctions to take effect [5] - The CBI emphasized the importance of regulated financial institutions having effective systems to monitor transactions to combat financial crime [2]