Central Bank of Ireland fines Coinbase €3.25 million over customer fund safeguarding failures

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase’s Irish subsidiary €3.25 million for failing to properly safeguard customer funds. What the Central Bank found The fine was announced on October 22, 2026. It covers breaches of safeguarding and outsourcing rules under Ireland’s Electronic Money Regulations 2011. The breaches ran from November 2020 to August 2025. The penalty did not start at €3.25 million. The regulator first set it at €4.65 million. Coinbase then received a 30% settlement discount after admitting to the contraventions. The Central Bank pointed to three core problems. First, outsourcing without oversight. Coinbase Ireland handed safeguarding functions to its US parent company but did not adequately supervise how that work was done. Second, commingling. Customer funds were mixed with money that should have been kept separate. Third, persistent shortfalls. Systemic deficiencies caused daily funding shortfalls in the designated safeguarding account. Those shortfalls continued for more than a year. The maximum shortfall reached €3.4 million in 2023 and €5.2 million in 2024. Self-reported, with no customer losses Coinbase Ireland self-reported the violations to the regulato...