TL;DR
Coinbase agreed to pay a €3.25 million fine in Ireland over historical deficiencies in its customer fund safeguarding practices.
The investigation identified errors in safeguarding calculations, transfers between entities, and shortcomings in the oversight of outsourced operations.
The company said no customers suffered financial losses or lost access to their funds, and that all the issues had been resolved.
Coinbase Ireland Limited (CBIE) reached a settlement with the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) to resolve an investigation into its customer fund safeguarding procedures . The settlement includes a €3.25 million fine for deficiencies in how funds deposited by European customers were managed and segregated.
The investigation examined how CBIE calculated the amounts it was required to hold in safeguarding accounts, as well as its use of bank accounts belonging to other group entities and the outsourcing of certain operations.
Coinbase said no customers suffered financial losses or experienced difficulties accessing their funds . The company also stated that it voluntarily reported several of the deficiencies to the regulator in January 2024.
Coinbase Acknowledges Errors in Fund Segregation and Safeguarding
Among the issues identified was the use of a bank account belonging to Coinbase Inc. to receive deposits from 30 CBIE customers during the 2023 U.S. banking crisis, when Silvergate was facing financial difficulties.
Investigators also identified deposits sent to former UK bank accounts after Brexit and withdrawals by customers of other Coinbase entities that were processed through CBIE’s safeguarding accounts.
Coding errors in a calculation system resulted in an average shortfall of 0.54% of the funds the entity was required to safeguard during 2023 and the first half of 2024.
Although Coinbase made daily adjustments to restore the required balances, those procedures did not prevent funds belonging to different entities from being initially mixed.
New Controls and Additional Safeguards
Coinbase reported that it had corrected the technical issues and revised its fund safeguarding procedures. Since January 2025, two independent reviews have examined the new system without identifying any outstanding deficiencies .
The company also introduced an additional €25 million guarantee , strengthened its technical controls, and appointed a dedicated Head of Safeguarding.
The settlement resolves the issues investigated by the Irish regulator. Coinbase subsequently moved its European headquarters to Luxembourg and said customers across the European Economic Area will continue receiving services without interruption .
