The Bank of the Netherlands has fined Coinbase 3.3 million euros. The company operated crypto services without registering with De Nederlandsche Bank.
On January 18, 2023, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) imposed an administrative penalty of €3,325,000 on Coinbase Europe Limited. The fine was imposed because Coinbase has provided crypto services in the Netherlands in the past without registration,” the announcement reads.
Indeed, Coinbase obtained its registration on September 22, 2022, while the platform had been operating in the Netherlands since November 15, 2020. During this period, Coinbase failed to report potentially dangerous transactions to the Dutch Financial Intelligence Unit due to lack of registration.
Coinbase is not the first major platform to be sanctioned by the DNB. Binance was also fined a similar amount last summer for the same reason. Like its rival, Coinbase plans to challenge the central bank’s decision and oppose the fine, which has also been increased due to the exchange’s ubiquity in the country.
However, the DNB says it also reduced the fine because the California-based company intended to register. Coinbase finally got a license in September 2022, according to the statement.
Coinbase has violated the WWFT’s goals in the past by providing crypto services in the Netherlands without registration. This means that Coinbase was unable to report unusual transactions to the Dutch Financial Intelligence Unit during the period of non-compliance and until September 22, 2022″, the DNB concluded.
