Philippine Regulators Warn Public about Using Unlicensed Crypto Exchanges

The Philippine Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), the national government regulatory agency tasked with supervising the corporate sector in the Philippines, has issued a warning to the public about using unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges.

According to the SEC advisory shared on December 23rd, the Philippine regulator is “strongly advising” citizens against using unregistered and unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges.

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The regulators stated that the advisory comes “considering the recent collapse of a large international cryptocurrency exchange.” It can be assumed that the Philippine SEC is talking about FTX, which “left hundreds of thousands, even millions of unsecured creditors with little to no recourse in recovering their money.”

In the advisory, the crypto regulatory body overviewed the Philippine laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission reminded that each entity aiming to operate in the country should be registered with the SEC. 

On top of that, SEC claimed that securities cannot be sold or offered “without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the Commission.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission believes that some crypto exchanges are “deliberately targeting Filipino investors and borrowers through online advertisements in social media.” Nevertheless, unnamed crypto exchanges “unlawfully allow Filipinos” to access their online platforms and offer “high-risk and sometimes fraudulent” products and schemes.

At the end of the advisory, SEC stated that if customers are not sure if it is safe to transact with an online platform or entity, they can always check on SEC’s website.

In August, the Philippines Central Bank, known as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, announced its plans to halt issuing new virtual asset service provider (VASP) applications. The Bank launched its regulation at the beginning of September 2022.