Philippines Restricts Access to Coinbase and Gemini

As the Philippines continues to increase its oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges, it has restricted access to major platforms such as Coinbase and Gemini. This situation arose as local internet service providers acted in accordance with directives from regulators. Users reported that, as of Tuesday, they were unable to access these platforms.

According to a report by Manila Bulletin, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued instructions to restrict 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.

The Philippines' approach to the cryptocurrency market is clearly shifting from tolerance to actual oversight, as evidenced by these developments. 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 a noticeable increase in regulatory scrutiny. In December 2023, Binance was granted a 90-day compliance period, and in March 2024, the NTC instructed local providers to block access to it. The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission then requested Apple and Google to remove the Binance application 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. The exchange PDAX, which organized on November 19, collaborated with payroll company Toku to enable remote workers to receive their salaries in stablecoin. Additionally, on December 8, digital bank GoTyme launched a service in partnership with Alpaca that allows for the purchase and storage of 11 crypto assets through its application.