Philippines Restricts Access to Coinbase and Gemini

The Philippines continues to tighten its 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 regulators' instructions. Users reported that they could not access these platforms as of Tuesday.

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

This development clearly indicates a shift in the Philippines' approach to the cryptocurrency market from tolerance to active regulation. It appears that having a local license has become a determining factor for market access. Similar restrictions had previously been imposed on Binance, and there has been an observable increase in regulatory scrutiny. In December 2023, a 90-day compliance period was granted to Binance, and in March 2024, the NTC instructed local providers to block access. The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission then requested Apple and Google to remove the Binance app from their stores, and most recently, it 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, the exchange PDAX partnered with payroll company Toku to enable remote workers to receive their salaries in stablecoin. Additionally, on December 8, the digital bank GoTyme launched a service in partnership with Alpaca that allows the purchase and storage of 11 crypto assets through its application.