Ireland: Central Bank fined Coinbase EUR 21.46 million for breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations

On 6 November 2025, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) imposed a monetary penalty of EUR 21.46 million on Coinbase Europe Limited for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) obligations under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (CJA 2010). The fine, reduced from an initial EUR 30.66 million following a 30% settlement discount, forms part of a ruling issued on 6 November 2025, concluding the CBI’s investigation into the company. The sanctions include a reprimand and financial penalty, both subject to confirmation by the High Court before taking effect. The investigation, covering the period from 23 April 2021 to 19 March 2025, found that Coinbase Europe’s transaction monitoring system failed to screen 30.44 million transactions worth approximately EUR 176 billion for suspicious activity. The company also failed to establish and apply adequate internal controls to prevent and detect money laundering and terrorist financing and did not perform enhanced monitoring for 184,790 transactions. Subsequent retrospective monitoring led to the submission of 2,708 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Revenue Commissioners.