By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 30th, 2024
Apart from these setbacks in the US and the Philippines, Binance is also faced with several other regulatory hurdles threatening its operations.
The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested that the app of top crypto trading platform Binance be pulled down from both Google PlayStore and Apple App Store.
Binance Operates as an Unregistered Broker in the Philippines
The SEC Chair Emilio Aquino highlighted that the Securities regulator has identified Binance’s operation in the Philippines as a potential threat to the funds of investors in the region.
It is believed that the public’s continued access to Binance websites and apps puts them at risk. To this end, the agency is in close collaboration with Google and Apple to remove the application from their respective online stores that is accessible to Filipinos.
Separate letters, dated April 19, have been sent to the two tech companies regarding the matter. The allegations levied against Binance include the sales of unregistered securities and operating as an unregistered broker, which is a violation of the Securities Regulation code. Notably, these are the same charges that were brought against the crypto exchange in the United States last year by the Gary Gensler-SEC.
In June 2023, the US SEC sued Binance over violation of securities law, mishandling investor funds as well as misleading investors and regulators. The Commission also designated several altcoins within and outside the Binance ecosystem as securities including BNB, BUSD, Cardano’s ADA, Polygon’s MATIC tokens, Solana, Cosmos, Decentraland, Axie Infinity, COTI, The Sandbox, Filecoin, and Algorand.
The current request of the regulator in the Philippines suggests that the exchange has been under the radar of the commission.
Last month, the Philippines SEC made an effort to block residents’ access to the exchange locally. The National Telecommunication Commission was contacted to help in “blocking the website and other web pages used by Binance, which was found to have offered an investment and trading platform without the necessary license.”
Binance Faced with Global Regulatory Hurdles
All these measures are an effort to mitigate the progressive proliferation of Binance’s alleged illegal activities in the Philippines. At the same time, the Filipino government is looking out for the interest of its economy, which already perceives Binance as a detrimental element, according to Mr. Aquino.
Apart from these setbacks in the US and the Philippines, the popular crypto exchange is also faced with several other regulatory hurdles threatening its operations. Binance was forced to cease transactions in Nigeria last month after the government of the West African country intensified its regulatory scrutiny of the exchange.
Two of the exchange’s executives have even been implicated in the matter including Nadeem Anjarwalla, and Tigran Gambaryan. The Nigerian government has accused them of enabling money laundering of up to $26 billion, among other charges.
Similarly, Hong Kong-based crypto exchange HashKey has announced its plans to stop allowing deposits and withdrawal requests from wallets hosted by Binance as of May 2024.