• Coinbase has been fined €3.3M by the Dutch central bank for non-compliance.
• The bank stated that Coinbase failed to acquire the necessary registration to offer crypto services in the Netherlands before it started operating in the country.
• The authorities claimed that the crypto exchange was not compliant between November 2020 and August 2022.
The US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been hit with a hefty fine of €3.3M by the Dutch central bank for failing to comply with regulations. This fine comes days after the exchange announced 20% layoffs and termination of operations in Japan due to market volatility.
The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), stated that Coinbase had not acquired the necessary registration to offer crypto services in the Netherlands prior to operating in the country. This non-compliance was noted between November 2020 and August 2022. The size of the exchange as a company and the “significant number of clients” it has in the Netherlands were taken into consideration when issuing the fine.
It is unclear at this moment if Coinbase will apply for registration in the Netherlands or not. This is a rare occasion, as cryptocurrency exchanges are usually not subject to such fines. The lack of regulation for crypto exchanges has been a major obstacle for governments to regulate the industry. Despite this, many countries have made progress in the regulation of digital assets, with the Netherlands being one of them.
This fine is also a reminder for other crypto exchanges to be aware of their local regulations to avoid similar penalties in the future. Coinbase, for its part, has not yet issued a statement regarding this fine. It is expected that the exchange will comply with the Dutch central bank’s regulations to avoid any further consequences.