On January 4, 2023, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) announced that Coinbase, Inc., a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, will pay a $50 million penalty and invest an additional $50 million in its compliance function over the next two years to remediate significant violations of the New York Banking Law and the DFS virtual currency, money transmitter, transaction monitoring, and cybersecurity regulations. DFS published a Consent Order describing the alleged violations of the New York Banking Law and DFS regulations, as well as the terms of the settlement. This is the second consent order published by DFS involving a cryptocurrency market actor.
