Crypto.com to Appeal $3.1M Fine by Dutch Regulator for Operating Without Registration

Crypto exchange Crypto.com was hit with a fine of 2.85 million euros ($3.12 million) last October by the Dutch central bank, the regulator announced on Wednesday.

The fine was imposed on Foris DAX MT Limited (DAX MT), which runs Crypto.com, for offering services in the Netherlands without registering with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the notice said. The penalty applied for a period of around two years before the platform registered with the regulator in July 2023.

Companies must register with DNB under the Dutch anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing act in order to operate in the country. Though the base fine for this violation is at two million euros, the regulator said it increased the fine “due to the severity and degree of culpability of the non-compliance.”

“In increasing the fine, DNB took into account the fact that DAX MT has a significant number of customers in the Netherlands that make use of its crypto services,” the notice said, adding that the company had also enjoyed a competitive advantage by not paying supervisory fees to DNB and that the non-compliance persisted over a long period.

Crypto.com had until November 2023 to challenge the fine, which the exchange says it has done.

“The fine relates to a past and rectified incident and does not impact our ongoing in-market operations or services. We are disappointed and disagree with DNB’s decision to fine Foris DAX MT and are actively appealing this decision," a spokesperson for the company said.

DNB has previously imposed similarly hefty fines on exchanges, such as Binance and Coinbase, for operating without registration.

UPDATE (March 14, 9:09 UTC): Adds comment from Crypto.com in subheadline and penultimate paragraph. Updates headline.