爱尔兰央行因客户资金保障违规对 Coinbase 爱尔兰子公司罚款 325 万欧元（约360万美元）

The Central Bank of Ireland fined cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Group’s Irish arm €3.25 million ($3.6 million) over claims it has weaknesses in its internal processes, which the bank said resulted in breaches to safeguarding obligations.

“Coinbase Ireland failed to have in place an adequate outsourcing governance framework,” the central bank said in a statement Thursday. “They placed excessive reliance on the US-based Coinbase Group as an outsourced service provider to implement safeguarding processes.”

Coinbase Ireland in 2023 directed customers to deposit funds into alternative bank accounts held by Coinbase to protect them from potential losses arising from bank failure during a US banking crisis, a company spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. This helped to protect customers, the spokesperson said, but it involved customers’ funds “being mixed with funds held for other Coinbase entities, which was not in line with regulatory safeguarding requirements.”

The Central Bank also found that Coinbase Ireland failed to adequately safeguard customers’ funds because of system design and “insufficient control testing” which resulted in its designated safeguarding account to be underfunded for lengthy periods of time, the statement added.

“These issues largely arose in the context of Coinbase taking steps to protect customers during periods of significant disruption,” the Coinbase spokesperson added.

The fine comes a year after the Irish institution also fined Coinbase Europe €21.5 million, following a 30% settlement discount, for breaching its anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing transaction monitoring obligations.