Fine for Aux Cayes Fintech Co. Ltd. for offering crypto services in the Netherlands without the legally required registration from July 2023 to August 2024
On 27 May 2025, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) imposed an administrative fine of €2,250,000 on Aux Cayes Fintech Co. Ltd. (Aux Cayes), operating under the trade name 'OKX'. The fine was imposed because Aux Cayes offered crypto services in the Netherlands without the legally required registration with DNB, which is against the law.
© DNB
Reason for the fine
- Pursuant to the law, crypto service providers fulfil an important gatekeeper role in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. To this end, crypto providers were required to have a registration with DNB until 30 December 2024.
- Aux Cayes offered crypto services in the Netherlands without registration with DNB.
- In response to this non-compliance, we imposed a fine.
Gatekeepers
The Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme – Wwft) aims to counter the laundering of criminal proceeds and the financing of terrorism.
The registration requirement for crypto service providers was introduced on 21 May 2020 because of the high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with crypto services. This is related to the anonymity associated with crypto transactions. Without the registration requirement, it is less easy to monitor whether the risk of criminal money flows is adequately addressed.
Aux Cayes contravened the objectives of the Wwft by providing crypto services in the Netherlands without registration with DNB. Among other factors, this meant that Aux Cayes was unable to report unusual transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit-Netherlands (FIU-NL) during the period of non-compliance.
Registration requirement
Since 21 May 2020, the Wwft required companies wishing to offer crypto services in or from the Netherlands to register with DNB. Following the entry into force of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) on 30 December 2024, crypto service providers require a licence or authorisation from the Financial Markets Authority (AFM) or another European supervisory authority. The fine imposed by DNB on Aux Cayes relates to the period when Aux Cayes was required to register as a crypto service provider with DNB.
Fine
In imposing the fine and setting its amount at €2,250,000, DNB considered the severity, extent, duration and culpability of the non-compliance. The final amount of the fine was reduced because of the steps Aux Cayes took to end the non-compliance and prevent its recurrence by facilitating the transfer of its Dutch customers to a registered group entity.
Current status
© DNB
Read the full decision below (in Dutch), excluding confidential information. For further information, please contact DNB’s Information Desk at telephone number 0800 - 020 1068 (free of charge) or +31 20 524 9111 (if calling from abroad).
Boetebesluit Aux Cayes