The Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission will block crypto trading platform Binance from being accessed in the country, warning the public against unregistered investment products.
Binance’s operator isn’t a registered corporation in the Philippines and the world’s largest crypto trading platform is not authorized to sell securities in the country, SEC said in a Nov. 28 advisory released by the regulator on Wednesday.
Access to Binance will be blocked three months after the advisory “to give Filipino investors who have holdings in Binance to close their positions and take out their investments,” the regulator said.
The SEC said it has requested Google and Meta to prohibit online advertisements from Binance appearing to social media users in the Philippines. It also asked the the National Telecommunications Commission and the Department of Information and Communications Technology to help in blocking Binance.
“Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents, representatives, promoters, recruiters, influencers, endorsers, and enablers of Binance in selling or convincing people to invest in its platform within the Philippines, even through online means, may be held criminally liable,” the SEC said.
Early this month, Binance Holdings Ltd. and its founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering and US sanctions violations, and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in one of the largest corporate agreements in US history.
