MANILA, The Philipines, Monday, April 01, 2024- Citing a lack of necessary licenses, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has initiated the blocking of cryptocurrency exchange Binance within the country. 1
The move comes after the SEC determined that Binance offered investment and trading platforms for securities without the required licenses under Philippine law. The Commission formally requested assistance from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on March 12th to block access to Binance’s website and other web pages.
“The SEC has identified Binance’s platform and concluded that continued public access poses a threat to the security of Filipino investors’ funds,” stated SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, offers various financial instruments, including leveraged spot trading, futures and options contracts, cryptocurrency savings accounts, staking services, and facilitates initial coin offerings. Despite boasting a significant user base and daily trading volume, Binance has not obtained the necessary licenses from the SEC to operate in the Philippines.
The SEC previously warned the public against using Binance in November 2023 and began exploring options for blocking access to the platform. This delay was intended to allow Filipino investors sufficient time to withdraw their funds and transition to authorized investment platforms.
The SEC has a history of collaborating with the NTC to block unauthorized investment platforms. Similar action was taken against OctaFX and MiTrade in February to protect investors.
