Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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OKX has been fined $2.6 million for failing to register with the Dutch National Bank (DNB).
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The fine relates to the company’s operations prior to the introduction of the MiCA regulation.
OKX to Pay a $2.6M Fine in the Netherlands
OKX, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has been fined 2.25 million euros ($2.6 million) by the Dutch National Bank (DNB) for offering crypto services in the Netherlands without registering with the financial regulator.
According to the crypto exchange, the fine relates to the period July 2023 to August 2024, before the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets regime (MiCA) regulation came into place.
In 2020, the Netherlands began asking crypto firms to register with the DNB as it sought a unified anti-money laundering rule (Wwft) in the country. The apex bank had fined several crypto exchanges for failing to register with it, including Crypto.com, which was fined 2.85 million euros, and Kraken, which had to pay 4 million euros.
While speaking to CoinDesk, an OKX representative stated that,
“This fine relates to a legacy registration matter that has long since been remediated, with no impact on customers. The fine is the lowest fine issued by DNB against a major exchange and was reduced in recognition of the steps we took, including migrating Dutch users to our fully MiCAR-licensed European entity. We’re pleased to have resolved this matter and remain focused on building compliant, secure services across Europe and beyond.”
OKX is currently one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world, processing over $3 billion in daily trading volume.
