Coinbase's UK branch was fined $4.5 million by a British regulator for violating a voluntary agreement regarding user onboarding. Despite a 2020 agreement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to avoid onboarding high-risk customers, CB Payments Limited (CBPL) onboarded 13,416 such customers, offering them cryptocurrency services against the agreement. The FCA fined CBPL £3,503,546 for repeated breaches, citing potential money laundering risks. This enforcement action could signal increased scrutiny on crypto exchanges in the UK. Notably, this is the first time the FCA has penalized under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Only 0.34% of high-risk customers were unintentionally onboarded. The investigation focused on e-money services, not crypto transactions. Despite the breaches going unnoticed for two years, CBPL received a 30% discount for resolving the issue. The incident may foreshadow a broader crackdown on crypto service providers in the UK. Read more AI-generated news on: https://app.chaingpt.org/news