New York financial regulators have found that the popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase violated anti-money laundering laws by failing to conduct adequate background checks. Coinbase will pay a $50 million fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services, and is also required to spend $50 million on improving its compliance program.
Coinbase disclosed that this investigation was in progress in its annual 10k filing in 2021.
State regulators first noticed problems at Coinbase in May 2020 during routine supervisory examinations. The Department of Financial Services found what it called “significant deficiencies” in various compliance programs, including customer due diligence procedures, transaction monitoring systems, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) programs and anti-money laundering risk assessments. Upon closer examination into potential legal violations, regulators also foun …
