Is Coinbase safe? For a UK user it depends which risk you mean. According to Coinbase’s UK user agreement, its UK entity, CB Payments Ltd, is FCA-authorised to issue e-money but only registered, not authorised, for specific cryptoasset activities. The FCA fined it £3,503,546 in 2024, and neither your crypto nor your e-money balance is covered by the FSCS.
This is an evergreen explainer. This desk read the FCA’s enforcement notice and Coinbase’s UK user agreement on 16 October 2026.
Is Coinbase FCA regulated?
Partly, and the parts matter. Coinbase’s UK user agreement, last updated 28 September 2026, describes three FCA statuses for CB Payments Ltd, which trades as Coinbase:
| Status, per Coinbase’s agreement | Law | Register no. | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorised e-money institution | Electronic Money Regulations 2011 | 900635 | Issues the sterling balance in your e-money wallet |
| Registered for specific cryptoasset activities | Money Laundering Regulations 2017 | 900635 | Anti-money-laundering supervision, not authorisation |
| Authorised MiFID investment firm | FSMA 2000 | 1045733 | Investment services in financial instruments |
The FCA register page loads only through scripts, so these are Coinbase’s statements, not a register check. The crypto line is the one readers misread. Registration means the FCA supervises the firm’s anti-money-laundering controls; it does not make the crypto service FCA-regulated in the sense a bank account is. Our guide to the FCA crypto gateway sets out what the coming authorisation regime changes.
What about the FCA saying CBPL was not registered?
The FCA’s press release still contains the line “CBPL is not currently registered to undertake cryptoasset activities in the UK”. That was written in July 2024. Coinbase announced its FCA registration on 3 February 2025, and the current agreement states it. The line is dated, not a live contradiction.
Why did the FCA fine Coinbase?
On 25 July 2024 the FCA fined CB Payments Ltd £3,503,546 for repeatedly breaching a voluntary requirement it had entered in October 2020 that barred it from taking on new high-risk customers. Per the regulator:
- it onboarded and/or provided e-money services to 13,416 high-risk customers;
- about 31 per cent of them deposited around USD $24.9 million;
- those funds went on to crypto transactions via other Coinbase Group entities totalling about USD $226 million;
- the breaches went undiscovered for almost two years.
The FCA said this was the first time it had used its enforcement powers under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. The firm settled and received a 30% discount.
Is Coinbase covered by the FSCS?
No. The agreement states: “Your Digital Assets and E-Money are not subject to protection under the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme.” Sterling held as e-money is instead safeguarded under the Electronic Money Regulations; if CB Payments ceased trading, the agreement says the money would come back subject to insolvency practitioner charges, possibly more slowly than an FSCS claim. The agreement offers no FSCS protection for crypto either. The agreement also puts its digital asset services, other than the Coinbase Visa Debit Card, outside the Financial Ombudsman Service. Before any purchase, expect the appropriateness test UK rules require.
How do I make my Coinbase account more secure?
The firm’s help page recommends a password manager and unique passwords of at least eight characters, and a security key or passkey for 2-step verification. It says Coinbase employees will never ask for your password. For how we read other platforms, see Kraken through a UK lens.
Questions readers ask
How safe is Coinbase?
Safe from what is the useful question. Its UK entity, CB Payments Ltd, is, per Coinbase’s user agreement, FCA-authorised for e-money and registered, not authorised, for specific cryptoasset activities. The FCA fined it £3,503,546 in 2024 over high-risk customers, and its own agreement says neither crypto nor e-money balances are FSCS-protected. Account security is partly your job.
Is Coinbase a legitimate platform for buying Bitcoin in the UK?
It is a real, FCA-supervised business rather than an unregistered offshore site. Coinbase’s user agreement names CB Payments Ltd as registered with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations for specific cryptoasset activities. That registration is anti-money-laundering supervision; it is not FCA authorisation of the crypto service, and it carries no compensation scheme.
Why would anyone keep money on Coinbase rather than holding their own coins?
Convenience, mostly: the platform handles keys, recovery and sterling rails. The trade-off is that a balance on any exchange depends on that firm and its controls, and Coinbase’s agreement says crypto services sit outside the Financial Ombudsman Service. Holding your own keys moves the risk to you rather than removing it. We do not advise either way.
None of this makes Coinbase safe or unsafe for you; it tells you which protections exist and which do not. Crypto assets are high risk and largely unprotected by FSCS, and nothing here is financial advice. If you buy, be prepared to lose all of it.