Philippines Restricts Access to Coinbase and Gemini

The Philippines continues its increasing regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges, restricting access to significant platforms such as Coinbase and Gemini. This situation arose as local internet service providers acted in accordance with regulator instructions. Users reported that they could no longer access these platforms as of Tuesday.

According to a report by the Manila Bulletin, the instructions given by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) foresaw the restriction of access to 50 online trading platforms operating without a license. These platforms have been flagged as unlicensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Central Bank of the Philippines. The central bank has not publicly disclosed the complete list of the blocked platforms.

This development clearly indicates a shift in the Philippines' approach to the cryptocurrency market from tolerance to actual oversight. It appears that having a local license has now become a decisive factor for market access. Similar restrictions had previously been imposed on Binance, and it has been observed that oversight is accelerating. A 90-day compliance period was granted for Binance in December 2023, and in March 2024, the NTC issued access restriction orders to local providers. The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission subsequently requested Apple and Google to remove the Binance app from their stores, and most recently, it was revealed that 10 exchanges, including OKX, Bybit, and KuCoin, were operating without licenses.

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