Irish Central Bank Fined Coinbase Europe Nearly $25M for AML Violations

• The Irish regulator has imposed a fine of about $25 million on the European division of the crypto exchange Coinbase.
• During the year, Coinbase failed to monitor 30 million transactions worth more than $200 billion.
• The grounds for the penalty were violations of AML and CFT requirements.

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Europe Limited €21.5 million (about $25 million) for violations of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) obligations that lasted from April 2021 to March 2025. This is the first disciplinary decision in the crypto sector made by the regulator.

According to the Central Bank, Coinbase Europe, a subsidiary of the Coinbase Group that provides crypto asset exchange and wallet storage services, failed to properly monitor more than 30 million transactions during the year. These transactions, worth more than €176 billion, accounted for about 31% of the company’s total transactions during the period when the technical failures were in effect.

According to the regulator, it took Coinbase Europe almost three years to complete the verification of all problematic transactions. As a result, the company filed 2,708 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the Irish Financial Intelligence Unit. These reports contained suspicions of serious crimes, including money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and child sexual exploitation.

The regulator emphasized that real-time monitoring of transactions and timely filing of STRs are “the cornerstone of the effectiveness and efficiency of the AML/CFT regulatory regime”. Failure to comply with these requirements can “seriously hinder how the regulatory and criminal justice system can detect, report, disrupt, investigate and prosecute criminality”.

Coinbase Europe has admitted the violations and agreed to the findings of the report. The company breached its obligations under the Criminal Justice Act 2010 by failing to properly monitor 30.4 million transactions and implementing effective internal controls to prevent AML and CFT.

Colm Kincaid, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank for Consumer and Investor Protection, said:

He stressed that crypto assets “have particular technological features that make them especially attractive to criminals” and therefore companies operating in the sector must have “robust controls in place to identify and report suspicious transactions.”

The initial fine was €30.7 million (over $35 million), but after a 30% discount as part of the Undisputed Facts Settlement, the amount was reduced to €21.5 million.

The decision must be confirmed by the High Court of Ireland.

The Central Bank of Ireland noted that this is already the 162nd case under the administrative sanctions program, and the total amount of fines imposed exceeded EUR 428 million (USD 495 million).

The event took place against the backdrop of tightening European regulation: in June 2025, Coinbase received a license under the Luxembourg Crypto Asset Markets Regulation (MiCA), and in July, the European Anti-Money Laundering Agency announced new strict requirements for crypto companies, including a ban on anonymous wallets and privacy-focused coins.