The SEC will proceed with its promise to ban access to Binance in the Philippines. This is the second time the SEC has reiterated its plan to block the world’s largest Centralized Exchange in the country as it has not been able to secure a VASP license to operate in the Philippines.
“The SEC has identified the aforementioned platform and concluded that the public’s continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos,” SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said in the letter-request addressed to the NTC.
Binance has not secured from the SEC a license to solicit investments from the public, nor to create or operate an exchange for the buying and selling of securities, as required by Republic Act No. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code (SRC).
Touted as the largest cryptocurrency website in the world, Binance currently has an average daily trading volume of $65 billion covering more than 402 cryptocurrencies, with a membership of over 183 million,according to its website. In the Philippines, Binance has had several active marketing campaigns and events, the last being a Binance Academy Forum held last November 2023 which also coincided with the announcement of Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao’s guilty verdict for money laundering.
Following a 90 day countdown last year, the SEC temporarily paused the blocking due to several internal changes in the organization but has now reiterated that this will soon push through. There is currently no set date for the blocking.
Filipinos who use Binance are encouraged to use licensed crypto exchanges when doing business. The banning of Binance would mean that the app may no longer be available on the Play Store and App Store for the Philippines, which also means a blocking of the site by the NTC. Filipinos accessing Binance via VPN will mean a breach of service.