Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Coinbase has agreed to pay a $50 million penalty to the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) over allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange broke anti-money laundering laws. As part of the settlement, Coinbase is also required to invest an additional $50 million in its compliance program to help prevent future violations.
New York regulators found that Coinbase had “wide-ranging and long-standing failures” in the company’s anti-money laundering program, potentially putting the platform at risk of “series criminal conduct” involving fraud, money laundering, activity related to child sex abuse material, and drug trafficking.
“Coinbase failed to build and maintain a functional compliance program that could keep pace…
