The Central Bank of Ireland announced on October 22 that it had reached a settlement with Coinbase Ireland involving a fine of EUR 3,252,618 and a reprimand for breaches of customer funds safeguarding and outsourcing management obligations. The company admitted the breaches, and the sanctions will take effect after confirmation by the High Court.
Coinbase Ireland is an electronic money institution that accepts fiat currency deposited by customers, provides balances that can be used to purchase digital assets on the group's trading platform and converts those balances back into fiat currency. The case concerns the obligation to segregate and protect customer money received in this process from the funds of the company or other entities. The required amount must be held in a separate bank account so that customers can be repaid even if the company becomes insolvent.
The Central Bank said the company had delegated customer funds calculations and the management of safeguarding accounts to a US group entity without maintaining sufficient local staff and expertise to oversee the work. Calculation errors led to continuing shortfalls in the amount required in safeguarding accounts, with the largest one-day shortfall in 2024 reaching EUR 5.2 million. The regulator also found that the company had changed the safeguarding arrangements described when it was authorized, including initially receiving money from some institutional customers into accounts held in the names of other group entities, without notifying the authority.
The breaches occurred from November 1, 2020, through August 19, 2025. The settlement notice said there was no evidence of actual customer loss, but customers could have been at risk of not recovering all their money if the company had become insolvent during the period. The fine reflects a 30% settlement discount.