As an electronic money institution, Coinbase Ireland must keep customer money properly protected and separate from funds belonging to other companies. Regulators found that its systems contained calculation errors and that some customer funds were mixed with money held by other Coinbase businesses.
Those failures left its designated safeguarding account short of the required amount for at least 18 months. The largest daily shortfall reached €3.4 million in 2023 before climbing to €5.2 million in 2024.
Coinbase Receives Discount on Regulatory Penalty
The original penalty was €4.65 million, but Coinbase received a 30% discount after agreeing to settle. The final €3.25 million fine and formal reprimand still require confirmation from Ireland’s High Court. Karen O’Leary, the central bank’s director of enforcement, said the regulator has “no tolerance for weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements.” Coinbase said it reported problems to regulators, improved its controls and resolved the issues.
Second Major Irish Penalty in Less Than a Year
The enforcement action follows a separate €21.46 million fine imposed on Coinbase Europe in November 2025 over failures to properly monitor cryptocurrency transactions for suspicious activity. That earlier case involved more than 30 million transactions worth over €176 billion that were inadequately monitored.
The latest penalty concerns a different Coinbase subsidiary and a different responsibility, protecting customer money rather than detecting financial crime. Together, the two cases have cost Coinbase entities nearly €25 million in Irish regulatory penalties.
