Dutch Central Bank Imposes $3.6 Million Penalty on Coinbase

• The authorities claim the centralized exchange did not follow the rules.
• The exchange offered crypto services in the Netherlands without being registered.

The Dutch central bank (DNB) has fined Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, 3.3 million euros ($3.6 million) for failing to get the necessary registration before offering crypto services in the Netherlands. The DNB said that it had considered Coinbase’s prominence as a cryptocurrency exchange and the fact that it served a sizable client base in the nation located in northwest Europe.

Furthermore, for the time period between November 2020 and August 2022, the authorities claim the centralized exchange did not follow the rules. In addition, organizations operating in the Netherlands or planning to provide crypto-related services must first register with the DNB in order to comply with the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act.

Not Registered With Authorities

In addition, on May 21, 2020, the central bank enforced a regulation that requires all cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency service providers to register with the government agency. Because of the inherent anonymity that crypto services give, this was done because of the rising danger that these services pose for money laundering and the funding of terrorist organizations.

The DNB also made public that the exchange had previously broken the goals of the instructions by offering crypto services in the Netherlands without being registered with the DNB. Coinbase will not be in a position to report suspicious transactions to the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit until September 22, 2022, due to the time it spent out of compliance. This may have led to a major undercount of suspicious transactions at this time by the investigative agencies.

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