In this episode, we break down the landmark €21.5 million fine issued to Coinbase Europe Ltd by the Central Bank of Ireland—a ruling widely seen as a preview of what’s to come under the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA). We explore how systematic coding errors left Coinbase’s transaction-monitoring system ineffective for nearly four years, allowing more than 30 million transactions to go improperly screened. Regulators made it clear: technical failures aren’t treated as mere glitches—they’re serious compliance breaches, even if companies later conduct back-reviews to catch missed red flags. The message to the crypto industry is unmistakable. Virtual Asset Service Providers must now operate with the same real-time governance and bank-grade controls expected of traditional financial institutions. As AMLA prepares to centralise and tighten anti-money laundering enforcement across the EU, this case sets a powerful new benchmark. Tune in to understand how this ruling could redefine compliance expectations for crypto players across Europe.
