Coinbase to pay $100m to settle with New York regulator

Washington  — US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global has reached a $100m settlement with New York’s department of financial services, the exchange and the regulator said in statements on Wednesday.

The settlement, which includes a $50m penalty, caps the regulator’s investigation into the firm’s compliance with requirements to prevent money laundering.

The department found Coinbase treated its onboarding requirements for customers as a “simple check-the-box” measure and had not done sufficient background checks, the regulator said.

“Coinbase failed to build and maintain a functional compliance programme that could keep pace with its growth. That failure exposed the Coinbase platform to potential criminal activity,” said New York department superintendent Adrienne Harris.

The exchange had addressed the problems, said Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, in a statement.

In a blog post, Coinbase said the investigation centred on the company’s compliance programme circa 2018 and 2019, as well as the compliance backlogs as the exchange grew in 2021.

“We took [the New York department’s] concerns seriously and have taken substantial measures to address these historical shortcomings,” the blog post said.

Coinbase, a publicly traded firm and one of the largest global crypto exchanges, will pay another $50m to boost compliance efforts aimed at blocking potential criminals from using the exchange, the company said. The deal also requires Coinbase to work with a third-party monitor.

The New York Times first reported the settlement.

Coinbase has been under scrutiny from the department of financial services and other regulators. It has previously disclosed receiving investigative subpoenas and requests from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for documents and information.

Reuters