Philippines blocks major crypto exchanges as regulators enforce licensing rules

The Philippines’ internet service providers (ISPs) have begun shutting down leading cryptocurrency trading platforms. This move comes as the country’s regulators start to implement local licensing regulations, especially for crypto-related services.

This announcement was made public on Tuesday, December 23, when users reported being unable to access several major cryptocurrency trading platforms in the Philippines, including Coinbase and Gemini. 

Their statement sparked a heated debate in the industry. In an attempt to address this controversy, a reliable source confirmed that both crypto platforms were inaccessible via several local ISPs. 

A major daily newspaper and media company in the Philippines, the Manila Bulletin, on the other hand, released a report clarifying that these ISP blocks were established following the National Telecommunications Commission’s issuance of an order for their setup.

Philippine regulators shift their focus towards stringent regulations in the crypto industry 

According to the report, the NTC instructed ISPs to restrict access to around 50 online trading platforms operating in the country without proper authorization from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The order alleged that these trading platforms were carrying out their operations unauthorized. Notably, the BSP is the central bank of the Philippines. What cryptocurrency trading platforms are waiting for is a complete list of the online trading platforms set to be impacted by the order, which is yet to be released. 

Meanwhile, as they continue to wait for the complete list, analysts have anticipated that this sudden regulatory change demonstrates that local regulators are shifting their focus from informal tolerance to implementing regulations strictly. This change has positioned local licensing as a crucial requirement for effective access to the Philippines’ cryptocurrency market. 

Considering the intense nature of the situation, sources revealed that although the country has recently halted the operations of Coinbase and Gemini, it had earlier implemented tough measures against crypto exchanges that were declared to be unlicensed. 

To support this claim, reports dated December 2023 mentioned that the Philippine government began imposing a 90-day countdown at that time for Binance to comply with local regulations before executing a ban on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Following this decision, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Philippines clarified that a deadline had been scheduled for Filipinos to withdraw their funds from Binance.

After several considerations on March 25, 2024, the National Telecommunications Commission ordered local internet service providers to shut down Binance. To further exercise stricter action against the cryptocurrency exchange, the SEC instructed tech giants like Apple and Google to eliminate Binance’s app from their stores. 

At this particular moment, sources highlighted that it had been almost a month since the ban was executed. Following this ban, the SEC warned that it was unable to offer any method for Filipinos to retrieve their funds.

Unregulated crypto exchanges find themselves in trouble in the Philippines 

Earlier, the SEC noted that approximately 10 crypto exchanges were operating in the Philippines without proper licenses. Examples of these exchanges include OKX, Bybit, and KuCoin. 

Interestingly, as the country carried out strict measures against unauthorized platforms, reliable sources discovered that compliant firms have been promoting crypto-related services in the Philippines.

In the meantime, reports stated that regulated crypto exchange PDAX joined forces with payroll provider Toku on November 19. Their collaboration aimed to enable remote employees to collect their wages in stablecoins seamlessly. Afterwards, they would effectively convert their pay into pesos without encountering wire charges or delays.

Later, on December 8, it was confirmed that digital bank GoTyme had introduced crypto-related services in the country after announcing its collaboration with Alpaca, a US-based API-first brokerage infrastructure company. With this launch, sources familiar with the situation noted that users had the chance to successfully purchase and store eleven different cryptocurrencies via the bank’s app.

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