Coinbase Pays NYDFS $100M to Close AML Violations

• Coinbase and the New York State Department of Financial Services reached settlement
• NYDFS claimed that the Coinbase exchange had many AML compliance issues
• Coinbase agreed to pay over $100 million for the compliance

Following an examination of Coinbase’s compliance program, a settlement has been reached between Coinbase and the New York State Department of Financial Services.

We’re proud of our commitment to compliance, but we are also willing to acknowledge where we have fallen short, including by paying penalties & working hard to fix issues. In this case, we’ll be paying a $50m penalty.

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) January 4, 2023

The NYDFS said on January 4 that Coinbase would pay a $50 million fine and invest $50 million to fix its compliance procedures and as a response to violations of New York’s financial services and banking laws. According to the banking authorities, the cryptocurrency exchange had many AML compliance issues. The NYDFS highlighted concerns with Coinbase’s onboarding users and monitoring transactions.

NYDFS stated:

Coinbase has acknowledged its failures in this respect to the Department. Furthermore, certain of these issues have been known to Coinbase since at least 2018, flagged through both internal assessments and external reviews, including examinations conducted by the Department.

NYDFS added, “although Coinbase has worked to correct these issues, its progress has been slow: progress in certain areas did not occur until recently, and work remains outstanding to the present.”

Coinbase allegedly permitted consumers to open accounts without doing adequate background checks, in contravention of the state’s AML license standards. The regulator stated that the increase in the number of users at the cryptocurrency exchange contributed to a failure to keep up with monitoring suspicious transactions, noting a backlog of more than 100,000 alerts.

In other news, a report from Cryptonewsland claims that Huobi Exchange is requiring its staff members to take their salaries in the form of USDT or USDC rather than fiat currency. It is further said that if they refuse the manner of payment, they would be terminated from their positions. 

The HR department is maintaining consistent communication with the staff members. The workers’ reaction to this decision, however, has been demonstrations directed toward the company.

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