Cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has been charged $3.6 million (€3,325,000) by Dutch regulator, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). This is for providing crypto services to customers in the Netherlands without proper registration.
DNB announced this in a Twitter post, stating that Coinbase has been offering crypto services without the legally required registration.
According to Dutch law, any company wishing to provide crypto services in the country must register with DNB under the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme – Wwft).
The Dutch regulator said Coinbase’s operation in the Netherlands has been illegal until September 22, 2022. The exchange failed to register under the proper acts, and as such illicit transactions might have been performed, which they failed to report to the financial intelligence unit.
According to a statement by DNB,
“The base amount in this fine category is €2 million, with a minimum amount of €0 and a maximum amount of €4 million. DNB applied its General fine calculation policy (in Dutch) to set the amount of the administrative fine. The base amount has been increased due to the severity and degree of culpability of the non-compliance.”
DNB noted that the increase in the base fee is mainly due to Coinbase's non-compliance with its laws for a long time (November 15, 2020, until at least August 24, 2022). The exchange has many users in the Netherlands and has also enjoyed not paying supervisory fees.
However, the fine was reduced by five percent since Coinbase intended to obtain registration. Coinbase can object to the fine on or before March 2, 2023.
