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Coinbase Europe Limited, the European affiliate of US crypto exchange Coinbase, has reached a 21.5 million euro ($24.7 million) settlement with the Central Bank of Ireland following technical failures in its transaction monitoring system between 2021 and 2022.
In a Thursday blog <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/resolving-past-transaction-monitoring-errors" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">post</a>, Coinbase said the coding errors caused the exchange’s internal compliance software to only partially screen some transactions for suspicious activity. The company said it detected the issue through internal testing, fixed it within weeks, and later reviewed all affected transactions.
Coinbase Europe ultimately filed around 2,700 suspicious transaction reports on transactions totaling about $15 million, out of the 185,000 transactions flagged during the review period. The company said that these filings did not confirm illicit activity, but were made as required under Irish Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.
According to a <a href="https://www.independent.ie/business/coinbase-fined-over-21m-by-central-bank/a16222222.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">report</a> by the Irish Independent, the value of these transactions exceeded $202 billion and accounted for about 31% of all Coinbase Europe transactions conducted during that period.
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 Top crypto exchanges by trading volume. Source: CoinMarketCap
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Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/banking-group-coinbase-national-trust-charter-application" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coinbase exec criticizes banks’ pushback against crypto charter application</a>
<h2 id="coinbase-tightens-compliance-after-fine">Coinbase tightens compliance after fine</h2>
The central bank based its fine on Coinbase’s average annual revenue in Ireland between 2021 and 2024, estimated at $480 million.
As a registered virtual asset service provider, Coinbase is required to maintain systems that detect and report potential money-laundering risks. The issue stemmed from three coding errors in five of Coinbase’s 21 monitoring “scenarios,” which failed to screen certain crypto addresses separated by special characters.
Coinbase said it has since enhanced testing and oversight of its Transaction Monitoring System to prevent similar errors. These updates include stricter pre-deployment reviews, expanded scenario testing and ongoing improvements to detect evolving high-risk activity.
“Coinbase recognizes the importance of effective AML procedures and takes our obligations under AML legislation and regulatory guidance very seriously,” the company said.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-2b-bvnk-acquisition-stablecoin-push" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coinbase mulls $2B BVNK startup acquisition in stablecoin push: Report</a>
<h2 id="coinbase-s-expansion-into-ireland">Coinbase’s expansion into Ireland</h2>
Coinbase <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-opens-office-in-ireland-as-part-of-brexit-contingency-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">opened its office in Dublin</a>, Ireland, back in 2018. In 2019, the exchange became “one of just a few companies” to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-gets-e-money-license-in-ireland-expanding-european-foothold" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">receive an e-money license</a> in the country.
In 2023, Coinbase <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-ireland-europe-mica" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">officially selected Ireland as its European crypto hub</a>, ahead of the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/markets-in-crypto-assets-regulation-mica" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)</a> regulation taking effect, which would allow the exchange to operate across all 27 EU member states.
Magazine:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/bitcoin-kyle-chasse-venture-capitalist-youtube-strike-cointelegraph/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Bitcoin OG Kyle Chassé is one strike away from a YouTube permaban</a>

Coinbase settles $24.7M fine in Ireland over transaction monitoring failures

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