Coinbase Reaches $100 Mil Settlement With New York Regulator

On January 4th, the US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the New York State Department of Financial Services issued a statement stating that the two parties had reached a 100 million settlement agreement. The agreement calls for Coinbase to pay a100millionsettlementagreement.TheagreementcallsforCoinbasetopaya50 million fine and commit to investing $50 million to strengthen its compliance operations. Coinbase is a publicly traded company and one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. In 2017, Coinbase obtained a New York operating license and was subject to review by the New York State Financial Services Authority and other regulatory agencies. Earlier, the New York State Financial Services Authority said that Coinbase violated anti-money laundering laws by allowing customers to open accounts without conducting sufficient background checks on customers. Compliance issues at Coinbase were first discovered during a routine inspection in 2020. Adrienne Harris, head of the New York State Department of Financial Services, said Coinbase failed to establish and maintain monitoring systems that matched the pace of its growth, exposing it to potential criminal activity. It is reported that the settlement agreement announced on Wednesday also requires Coinbase to cooperate with third-party regulators to prevent illegal and criminal activities.