Infrawatch PH, a Filipino think tank, demanded that the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) take action against Binance’s operations in the country in a twelve-page complaint it submitted on Monday.
In the letter, the organization requests to “immediately ban the illegal operations of Binance in the Philippines.”
Infrawatch PH also made ban requests to the govt, central bank
This is not the first time the think tank denounced the largest crypto exchange by volume. Earlier this month, the public policy group had reportedly asked the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to look into Binance over its promotional offers for not securing appropriate domestic licenses.
Prior to that, Infrawatch PH had written to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank, requesting that Binance be suspended and forbidden from conducting business in the nation for operating without the required permits.
However, DTI later shot down the request, citing a lack of clear legislative guidelines to do so.
This time around as well, Infrawatch PH underlined that Binance is doing business in the country without ‘complying with the basic requirement of registration and securing necessary licenses to operate’.
CZ wants to expand in the Philippines
Binance, which does not currently hold a Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) license in the Philippines, intends to acquire it as previously stated by Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. He had noted in the past, “There are at least two licenses that we are interested in. There is VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) license. There is an EMI license, which is more for traditional services,”
However, the convenor of public policy states, “It is public knowledge that Binance has been operating in the Philippines for several years already without appropriate authority.” Further adding, based on reports, Binance has no office in Manila and only uses third-party companies that employ Filipinos for technical and customer support services.
Infrawatch PH also remarked, “Despite its lack of registration and permits, Binance already has a reported 3.4 million users in the Philippines and recently proudly announced its plan to reinforce its existing presence in the Philippines.“
The think tanks call out ‘illegal’ offerings
The think tank also underlined the financial products that the exchange is using without the SEC permits, citing the exchange offerings of spot trading, margin trading, futures contracts, options, crypto loans, and P2P trading.
The think tank has also gone ahead to question the legality of the sales promotions used by the platform. Meanwhile, it has also warned against unregistered companies, like Binance, for disregarding the Philippines’ local laws.
Therefore, now the agency seeks to ban Binance to safeguard Filipino Binance users against ‘financial risks’ by citing examples of countries like the United States of America, Japan, the UK, Singapore, and Malaysia, which have either banned or warned against exchange in the past.
Notably, Infrawatch PH also cites reports that blame the collapse of Terra USD and the LUNA ecosystem on the platform, calling for a probe against Binance while imposing penalties and rejecting all future applications of the exchange and its affiliates in the country.
Philippines is a lucrative market for Binance
A survey by Finder had found that the crypto ownership rate in the Philippines is 16%, higher than the global average of 15%. Therefore, the region is a lucrative crypto market for the exchange, with 11.6 million Filipinos reportedly owning crypto.
This is especially true when according to Felipe Medalla, the incoming governor of BSP, outlawing cryptocurrencies is not an option in the country.
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