The Dutch Central Bank has thrown a $3.6 million penalty fee at Coinbase for allegedly failing to meet the region’s registration requirements prior to offering digital currency services in the Netherlands.
Coinbase Hit with Huge Penalty Fee
The bank says Coinbase has been operating on an unregistered basis since November of 2020. While the appropriate registration protocols were finally adhered to in September of 2022, the company went through a two-year period where it did not pay supervisory fees. The regulators are now looking to cash in on what they feel they’re owed.
Any firm looking to provide crypto services in the Netherlands must register with the bank under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act. Coinbase, naturally, is fighting the penalty, claiming the period in question is how long it took for the company to finally be registered in the nation, and that Coinbase has been playing by the rules the entire time.
A spokesperson for the exchange mentioned in a statement:
While we respect DNB’s authority to enforce its regulations, we are carefully considering the objections and appeals process.
Coinbase has until March 2 of this year to oppose the fine. Initially, the amount to be paid was around $2.18 million, though the penalty was ultimately increased after the bank concluded Coinbase’s situation was far more severe. The bank also issued a similar penalty requirement of Binance last summer after it was discovered the trading platform had spent several months out of compliance.
No doubt Coinbase has been dealing with several problems over the past few months. The company recently announced that it was going to be letting go of several additional staff members, for instance, though January has gotten off to a relatively good start in some ways given bitcoin has rallied and experienced a number of surges that have ultimately pushed the currency’s price up by $7K since December.
The Exchange Has Hit Some Positive Notes
This rally has caused trading activity to surge for Coinbase over the last few weeks. Financial powerhouse JPMorgan recently wrote of the exchange:
We think Coinbase has been cultivating a reputation as a reputable, trusted intermediary for some time. We think that reputation is helping to drive greater market share as activity levels rebound… Unlike a number of Coinbase’s high-profile peers, Coinbase did not have direct exposure to FTX and was insulated from the direct legal and reputational fallout from its demise.
In addition, the company’s stock – which has fallen into the doldrums over the past year due to the bearish conditions being faced by the world’s number one digital currency by market cap – has endured a bit of a rally as of late and is now trading for over $50 a unit. Not long ago, Coinbase stock was in the $30 range.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/dutch-bank-fines-coinbase-requires-over-3-million/