It’s been demonstrated innumerable times that the App Store is not actually well maintained.

Eg - https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1631352764247977985?s=...

Apple is known to loosen its rules around big apps. Facebook and other big players have gotten away with many privacy violations that any small app would be blacklisted for, simply because Apple knows banning them would damage their brand more than making special rules for big players does.

If Apple were to ban Coinbase, many people would probably blame Apple for restricting access to their cryptocurrency rather than thank them for standing up for fair app store reviews. Instead, they've probably just asked them nicely to stop doing whatever would be ban-worthy otherwise, with a ban (and a press statement) ready in case they don't cooperate.

It wouldn't make business sense to ban a popular app for something as silly as fake reviews, especially with the amount of customer money involved.

You have a point. If I remember correctly this event is related to the SegWit drama. Circle was not among the biggest supporters of the upgrade.