What happened?
Coinbase Europe agreed to pay a €21.5 million fine to the Central Bank of Ireland after coding errors left thousands of customer transactions unscreened between 2021 and 2022. The regulator said three coding mistakes disabled five of 21 transaction-monitoring scenarios and affected around 31% of transactions in that period, worth more than $202 billion. Coinbase re-screened about 185,000 transactions, filed roughly 2,700 suspicious transaction reports totaling €13 million, and says it fixed the bugs and cooperated with the authorities.
Who does this affect?
This directly affects Coinbase Europe customers and the exchange’s European operations because many transactions were only partially screened. It also matters for EU regulators and other crypto firms since the case shows how technical failures can break AML controls and invite enforcement. Investors, partner banks, and users of other exchanges may feel the ripple effects through increased due diligence and potential restrictions under upcoming EU rules like MiCA.
Why does this matter?
The ruling signals tougher regulatory scrutiny and will likely push exchanges to spend more on compliance, testing, and oversight, raising industry costs. Those higher costs and stricter checks can slow customer onboarding, reduce liquidity, and cause short-term volatility in crypto markets and in Coinbase’s competitive position. In the long run stronger AML controls could boost trust and market stability, but firms that don’t adapt risk fines, licensing trouble, and lost market share.