Coinbase Fined Again in Ireland, This Time $3.6M Over Fund Safeguarding

Coinbase’s Irish arm has been fined roughly $3.6 million by the Central Bank of Ireland for failing to properly protect customer funds, the regulator’s second enforcement action against the exchange’s European operations in less than a year.

The regulator said Thursday it penalized Coinbase Ireland €3,252,618 for breaching safeguarding and outsourcing rules under the country’s Electronic Money Regulations between November 2020 and August 2025.

The figure reflects a 30% discount off a €4,646,597 penalty for settling, which Coinbase Ireland reached with the regulator on Oct. 21. The sanction still requires confirmation by Ireland’s High Court before taking effect.

Coinbase Ireland is an e-money institution within the broader Coinbase Group, issuing the digital money customers use to buy crypto on the platform. The Central Bank found three main failures: the company leaned too heavily on its U.S.-based parent to handle safeguarding processes required under Irish and EU rules, lacked enough local expertise to oversee the protection of customer funds, and allowed its designated safeguarding account to be underfunded for lengthy periods. It also faulted the firm’s internal controls and its failure to flag material safeguarding changes to the regulator.

Coinbase Ireland admitted the breaches. Karen O’Leary, the Central Bank’s director of enforcement, said payment and e-money firms have a “fundamental obligation to fully safeguard customers’ funds” and that the regulator has “no tolerance for weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements.”

O’Leary added that failing to honor assurances made during authorization, or to report material changes, was “completely unacceptable.”

The penalty is the second Irish hit to Coinbase’s European business this year. The Central Bank fined a separate Coinbase entity, Coinbase Europe, €21.5 million in May over anti-money-laundering failures.

Coinbase has leaned on Ireland as its EU hub, securing an e-money license there ahead of Brexit and later obtaining a MiCA license to passport its services across the bloc.

The action lands even as Coinbase expands its European footprint, having recently rolled out crypto futures for traders in the region. It also underscores how the exchange’s reliance on a single jurisdiction for EU access carries regulatory risk, with Irish authorities signaling they intend to hold firms to the commitments they made to win market entry.