The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Ireland €3.25 million for breaching safeguarding and outsourcing obligations under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 between November 2020 and August 2025, per rte.ie.

It is the regulator's second penalty against the group: a €21.5 million fine was imposed in November 2025 for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing monitoring failures covering April 2021 to March 2025.

Coinbase Ireland, the e-money unit that provides crypto asset and wallet services for the trading platform, faces a reprimand alongside the penalty. The settlement sanctioned amount was €4,646,597, reduced to €3,252,618 by a 30% settlement discount.

The Irish Times reports that for a period of four years Coinbase Ireland allowed users' funds to be mixed with funds held elsewhere, despite explicitly promising robust and automated safeguards at its 2019 authorisation. The regulator said the failures increased the risk of loss of these funds.

Coinbase Ireland also placed excessive reliance on its US parent as an outsourced service provider for safeguarding processes, and lacked sufficient local skill and expertise to oversee the management and safeguarding of customer funds.

rte.ie reports the designated safeguarding account was underfunded for lengthy periods, and that internal control, escalation and governance processes failed to identify and report material changes to the regulator.

Coinbase Ireland says the breaches largely arose while taking steps to protect customers during periods of significant disruption.

According to rte.ie, the company said that during the 2023 US banking crisis, CBIE directed customers to deposit funds into alternative bank accounts held by Coinbase Inc to shield them from potential bank failure losses — protecting customers but mixing funds with other Coinbase entities in breach of safeguarding requirements.

After Brexit, despite repeated instructions to use its Irish bank account, some customers continued depositing into legacy UK accounts.

The company says it self-identified and reported several issues to the Central Bank in January 2024, addressed the vast majority that year, and has since fully resolved them, adding that no customers suffered financial loss or lost access to funds.

Central Bank director of enforcement Karen O'Leary said firms must have the appropriate culture and expertise to comply with rules and protect customer interests, and that the bank has 'no tolerance for weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements'.

She stressed that commitments made during the authorisation process are critical, calling it 'completely unacceptable' to fail to adhere to them or to inform the bank of material changes, as happened here.

The Irish Times notes Coinbase Europe's Irish Vasp registration lapsed at the end of last year as the group moved activities to Luxembourg under the EU's harmonised MiCA regime.

The case underlines how authorisation in Ireland grants access to the wider EU market — and the rigour regulators now expect in return.