Central Bank of Ireland fines Coinbase Ireland €3.25m over safeguarding failures

The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Ireland Limited €3,252,618 and issued a reprimand on October 22 over failures to safeguard customer funds and to oversee outsourced functions. The e-money institution, part of the Coinbase Group, admitted breaching the safeguarding and outsourcing requirements of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011.

The regulator set the penalty at €4,646,597 and applied a 30 percent discount under its settlement process. The sanctions are subject to confirmation by the High Court and take effect once confirmed.

According to the Central Bank, the breaches ran from November 1, 2020, to August 19, 2025. Coinbase Ireland relied excessively on the US-based Coinbase Group to implement safeguarding controls and lacked sufficient local expertise to oversee them. Inadequate system design and insufficient testing of controls allowed its designated safeguarding account to be underfunded for lengthy periods. The firm also lacked adequate procedures to identify material changes to its safeguarding arrangements and report them to the regulator.

"Payment and e-money firms have a fundamental obligation to fully safeguard customers' funds," said Karen O'Leary, the Central Bank's Director of Enforcement.

Coinbase said it self-reported several of the problems to the Central Bank in January 2024, that no customers lost money or access to their funds, and that it has since strengthened its safeguarding controls, The Block reported.

The case is the Central Bank's 164th enforcement outcome, bringing its total fines to more than €432 million. In November 2025 the regulator fined another group company, Coinbase Europe, €21.46 million over failures in transaction monitoring.