The Dutch central bank has fined crypto exchange Coinbase for offering services in the past without the required registration. The trading platform, which has until March to challenge the action, is now considering an appeal against the move.
Dutch Financial Authority Fines Coinbase for Operating Without Registration
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) issued Coinbase Europe Limited on January 18, 2023 with a €3.325 million ( administrative fine of more than $3.6 million. The announcement described the penalty with exchanges that offered crypto services in the Netherlands without registering with the central bank in the past period.
According to the regulator, it constitutes non-compliance with Dutch regulations, since companies wishing to offer crypto-related services must register with the DNB under the country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing law.
The financial authorities further detailed that the base amount of fines in this category is €2 million, while noting that the fines in the case with Coinbase have increased “depending on the severity of the non-compliance and the degree of liability.”
“In increasing the fines, the DNB took into account the fact that Coinbase is one of the largest crypto service providers in the world. In addition, Coinbase has a significant number of customers in the Netherlands who use its crypto services,” the bank said, noting that the exchange does not pay supervision fees.
The Dutch central bank also stressed that Coinbase operated without registration for a long period of time, from mid-November 2020 to late August 2022, which it considered to be a serious non-compliance.
However, the DNB also reduced the fine by 5% because it stated that Coinbase always intended to obtain registration in the Netherlands and did so last September 22. Registration requirements for crypto service providers were introduced in May 2020.
Due to the lack of registration, the global exchange was unable to report unusual transactions to the Dutch Financial Intelligence Authority during the period in question, and these transfers may have gone unnoticed by the investigating authorities, the bank claimed.
Coinbase has until March 2, 2023 to contest the fine. The exchange was quoted by Reuters as saying it disagrees with the DNB’s decision.” It said it “does not include any criticism of our actual services. The crypto company is now considering an appeal.
In July 2022, De Nederlandsche Bank imposed identical measures against Binance. The world’s largest crypto exchange was also fined the same amount of euros for offering crypto services in the Netherlands without the required registration.
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