Key takeaways:
- Binance will not be accessible to local users in the Philippines due to financial regulators’ worries over the company’s unauthorized operations.
- The SEC states that the prohibition will go into effect in three months to give investors time to sell any shares they may have acquired through Binance.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, will not be accessible to local users in the Philippines due to financial regulators’ worries over the company’s unauthorized operations.
According to a document released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 25, the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) supported the SEC in its efforts to ban access to Binance’s website and online trading platform. According to SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino’s letter request to the NTC:
“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,”
According to the Philippine financial watchdog, Binance violates the Securities Regulation Code by providing investment goods, including leveraged trading services and cryptocurrency savings accounts, without the necessary licenses.
The SEC states that the prohibition will go into effect in three months to give investors time to sell any shares they may have acquired through Binance. Additionally, the agency requested that Google and Meta prevent Filipino consumers from seeing Binance-related advertisements on their platforms.
The prohibition in the Philippines represents Binance’s most recent regulatory setback, as it has been subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny globally.
In December, a US court mandated that Binance pay $2.7 billion to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and that Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the company’s former CEO, pay $150 million.
The settlement brought an end to the CFTC’s protracted legal battle against Binance, which it had been accused of violating federal law by running an unauthorized derivatives exchange and dodging penalties in March 2023.
CZ consented to resign as the CEO of Binance on November 21 as part of a larger settlement with the CFTC, the Treasury Department, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Zhao entered guilty pleas to multiple civil and one criminal offense pertaining to anti-money laundering legislation on the same day.
Zhao is awaiting punishment in connection with allegations of money laundering. The court postponed his sentencing until April 30. With a $175 million release bail, he is currently at liberty.
