Coinbase, Binance resist calls to kick Russians off crypto platforms

By Niket Nishant (Reuters) -Two of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, COINBASE Global Inc and Binance, rejected calls on Friday for a blanket ban on all Russian users to stop their platforms from being used as a way round Western sanctions. By staying put in Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine, the two exchanges are diverging from mainstream finance in a way some anti-money laundering experts and European regulators say weakens Western attempts to isolate Moscow. “We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise,” Coinbase Chief Execut…