Philippines Restricted Access to Coinbase and Gemini

The Philippines is continuing its increasing regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges, restricting access to major platforms such as Coinbase and Gemini. This situation arose as local internet service providers acted in accordance with the directives of regulators. Users reported that as of Tuesday, they were unable to access these platforms.

According to a report by Manila Bulletin, the directive issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) anticipated the restriction of access to 50 online trading platforms operating without licenses. These platforms were flagged as unlicensed by the central bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The central bank has not yet made the complete list of blocked platforms public.

This development clearly demonstrates that the approach towards the cryptocurrency market in the Philippines has shifted from tolerance to actual regulation. It appears that having a local license has become a decisive factor in market access. Similar restrictions had previously been imposed on Binance, and there has been an observed acceleration in regulations. In December 2023, a 90-day compliance period was granted to Binance, and in March 2024, the NTC issued a directive to local providers to block access. The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission later requested Apple and Google to remove the Binance app from their stores, and most recently, it was announced that 10 exchanges, including OKX, Bybit, and KuCoin, were operating without licenses.

The increase in these pressures has allowed licensed companies to offer new solutions. On November 19, exchange PDAX collaborated with payroll company Toku to enable remote workers to receive their salaries in stablecoins. Additionally, on December 8, digital bank GoTyme launched a service in partnership with Alpaca that allows the buying and storage of 11 cryptocurrencies through its application.