Crypto.com Fined $3.1M by Dutch Regulator for Operating Without Registration

• Crypto.com faced a $3.1 million fine from the Dutch central bank for operating in the country without registration.
• The regulator said it hit the platform with an increased fine for multiple reasons, including serving a "significant number" of customers in the Netherlands and not paying supervisory fees.
• The platform is now registered with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

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 to 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 2 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.

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