By
Bena Ilyas
May 17th, 2024
The SEC in the Philippines is set to unveil crypto guidelines that will guide trading and other related activities in the country.
The Philippines securities agency is set to publish regulatory guidelines for crypto in the second half of 2024. The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to unveil the crypto framework later this year, according to SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino.
A report from local media publication Business World Online notes that the guidelines will regulate crypto trading activities in the Philippines. Specifically, the primary goal is to protect investor interest.
Philippines Continues Crypto Regulation Efforts
The move adds to the country’s efforts to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, which recently affected major crypto trading exchange Binance. On April 19, the SEC requested that Google and Apple remove the Binance applications from both their app stores.
In a press release on March 25, the SEC announced approval of a formal request for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to block web pages used by Binance. In the press release, the Commission accused Binance of “actively employing promotional campaigns on social media to attract Filipinos to engage in investment and trading activities using its platforms. It adds that Binance did this without an SEC license needed to accept investments from the public. The SEC also notes that Binance does not have permission to create or operate an exchange for users to buy and sell securities.
Speaking on the crackdown, Aquino said it is not a witch hunt directed at any company in particular:
“They have to secure the required licenses because the intention is to be able to run after them to exact their obligations. That is just where we are coming from. We’re not singling out any of these platforms. That’s our direction.”
Interestingly, Aquino admitted that people are sidestepping the ban by using virtual private networks (VPNs). He said while he knows people can still access the apps, “nobody gets to blame us”.
The SEC chairperson also added that the Commission has learned from the problems the defunct exchange FTX had in November 2022.
Effects of Binance Philippines Ban
Since the Philippines blocked Binance, crypto traders in the country are feeling discomfort. According to Ethan Rose, the CEO of Pouch, which handles Bitcoin payments, the Binance ban protects Filipinos from “bad actors”. He also adds that it will drive more business to local exchanges, attracting more investment funding. Rose believes the ban, in general, is good for the Philippine economy. Unfortunately, the CEO highlighted the existence of “trade-offs”. Rose says that local traders would suffer high trading fees. He specifically says that in addition to high fees, traders will have “less variety of tokens to trade”.
The Philippines plans to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) sometime in the next two years. However, the plan is to launch a wholesale CBDC, not a retail version. According to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, a retail CBDC could worsen bank runs during times of financial uncertainty. On the other hand, a whole CBDC would improve the efficiency of domestic and cross-border payments.