Russians will not be barred from using cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.

Coinbase Global and Binance, two cryptocurrency exchanges, said on Friday (Mar 4) that they have no plans to prevent all Russians from using their platforms.

Some of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges are remaining in Russia, defying mainstream finance in a move that experts say weakens Western efforts to isolate Moscow in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated, "We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise."

In an emailed statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, said, "We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users' accounts."

Both crypto exchanges have stated that they will abide by government sanctions.

The announcements come days after Coinbase and Binance said they would not freeze all Russian accounts in response to Ukraine's request for a complete ban from major crypto exchanges.

For invading Ukraine, Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have imposed sweeping financial sanctions on Russia, including the exclusion of major Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system. Russia's actions in Ukraine are referred to as a "special operation".

By fLEXI tEAM