Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and the first cryptocurrency platform to be listed on the United States Stock Exchange. Therefore, it is not surprising that all the actions and announcements from Coinbase are the focus of the community because it is seen to have the potential to have an impact on the crypto market.
Of late, tensions between Russia and Ukraine have become increasingly alarming. Several crypto exchanges such as Bithumb and Upbit have imposed restrictions on Russian users. It has been a question mark, what is the stance taken by Coinbase in this regard?
Today, Coinbase announced that they are not yet ready to block Russia -based users from accessing their services. In other words, Coinbase does not want to be directly involved in this crisis.
So far most countries have imposed severe sanctions, the majority in finance. In addition, the SWIFT service of Russian banks was also stopped. On that basis, most ‘seen’ people are starting to rely on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Although some South Korean companies reportedly decided to impose restrictions but other crypto exchanges such as Binance and Kraken were unwilling to participate.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong chose to join Binance in this. He believes the risk of the Russian oligarchs using crypto to circumvent sanctions is relatively small. This is because digital assets use a chain of blocks where each transaction is recorded and displayed transparently. This means that anything unexpected can be detected. Armstrong also noted that ordinary people can see the crypto asset class “as a lifeline” in the midst of the Ruble’s fall.
However, Armstrong warned that Coinbase's stance could change in the future, saying, "if the U.S. government decides to impose a ban, Coinbase will abide by and abide by the law."
