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# FCA Fines Coinbase Subsidiary CB Payments £3.5 Million in First Crypto Enforcement Action
- URL: https://www.theglobalbanker.com/fca-fines-coinbase-cb-payments-3-5-million-first-crypto-enforcement/
- Published: 2024-07-26T06:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-10T16:58:33.000Z
- Description: The FCA announced a £3,503,546 fine on Coinbase unit CB Payments on 25 July 2024 for serving 13,416 high-risk customers despite a voluntary ban.
- Author: TGB Editorial Team
- Tags: Regulations, Europe, #archive

The Financial Conduct Authority imposed a financial penalty of £3,503,546 on CB Payments Limited in a Final Notice dated 23 July 2024 and published on 25 July 2024, marking the first enforcement action the regulator has ever taken against a cryptoasset firm under the Electronic Money Regulations. CB Payments Limited is a United Kingdom e-money institution and a subsidiary of Coinbase, the US-listed cryptocurrency exchange, and the fine relates to serious breaches of a voluntary requirement that prohibited the firm from onboarding high-risk customers.

The penalty would have been higher but for a 30% discount applied by the FCA in recognition of CB Payments' decision to settle at an early stage of the enforcement process. The firm did not contest the FCA's findings.

#### FIRM SERVED THOUSANDS OF PROHIBITED HIGH-RISK CUSTOMERS

The FCA found that despite a Voluntary Requirement, known as a VREQ, that explicitly prohibited CB Payments from providing services to high-risk customers, the firm went on to onboard and service 13,416 such individuals between October 2020 and October 2023\. The existence of a VREQ, an agreement entered into voluntarily by the firm with the regulator, made the breach particularly serious in the FCA's view, as it represented a failure to honour a commitment the firm itself had accepted.

Of the 13,416 high-risk customers who received services in breach of the requirement, approximately 31% made deposits into their accounts. Those customers deposited a total of approximately $24.9 million, funds which were subsequently used to execute approximately $226 million in cryptoasset transactions through other entities within the broader Coinbase Group. 

CB Payments has been operating within the UK's e-money regulatory framework, providing services that facilitate access to the broader Coinbase ecosystem for customers in Great Britain.