Coinbase has decided to follow Binance and Kraken in refusing to impose a blanket ban on Russian users. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong indicated an hour ago that the company is not considering removing all Russian users from its platform.
Following rumors that Russia may use cryptocurrency to circumvent US sanctions, politicians in the United States have put pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges. Armstrong wrote, “Coming clean on this situation, he wrote:
āWe are not preemptively banning all Russians from using Coinbase. We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise. Some ordinary Russians are using crypto as a lifeline now that their currency has collapsed. Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would hurt them, tooā.
The Coinbase CEO, on the other hand, takes a careful approach in order to avoid upsetting US regulators. He goes on to say that regardless of the asset class, whether gold, equities, or cryptocurrency, every U.S. corporation must follow the law of the plan.
As a result, Coinbase will also abide by the law! Instead of a blanket prohibition, Coinbase will “block transactions from IP addresses that may belong to sanctioned individuals or entities, just like any other regulated financial services business,” according to the statement.
Russian oligarchs are unlikely to use cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions
According to the CEO of Coinbase, there is little chance of Russian oligarchs utilizing cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions. He claims that because crypto is an open ledger, it is more traceable than currency, art, gold, or other goods. He goes on to say that even the US Treasury and the National Security Council concur on this.
In his concluding tweet, Armstrong mentions: āSanctions are a complex issue, and the situation is changing fast, so weāll keep working with law enforcement and governments, and will take more steps as needed. Weāll also of course keep working to enable crypto services for the people of Ukraine who are in need of helpā.
According to a new analysis, the story that Russia is using crypto to dodge sanctions is not totally accurate. NFT marketplaces like as OpenSea, on the other hand, have already begun limiting access to users from sanctioned zones.
