SEC to ban Binance app in Philippines

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is working to ban the Binance app following recent efforts to block its website and other web pages in the country.

'The request that the SEC has made so far is with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), to block all websites and links used by Binance in the country,' the SEC said in response to an inquiry by The STAR.

'The SEC is still working on blocking the app as well. We'll provide updates when the SEC has coordinated with other agencies for that procedure,' it said.

The SEC en banc in its March 12 meeting approved the filing of a formal request with the NTC for assistance in blocking the website and other web pages used by Binance.

In line with the SEC's request, the NTC ordered all internet service providers to block access to the website of Binance as the government pursues a crackdown against the crypto trader.

With the Binance app still accessible in the country, SEC Philifintech Innovation Office officer-in-charge Paolo Ong said in a recent interview on One News that the SEC is working on getting the app shut down.

The SEC in November last year issued a warning to the public against using the online cryptocurrency exchange and has started studying the possible blocking of the platform in the Philippines to safeguard the public from unregistered investment products.

Binance was found by the SEC to have offered an investment and trading platform without the necessary license from the commission.

The group has also been actively employing promotional campaigns on social media to attract Filipinos to engage in investment and trading activities using its platforms, according to the SEC.

SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino earlier said the public's continued access to the websites/apps of Binance 'poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos.'

The SEC said Binance defines itself as a facility for trading financial instruments and offers investment products -- including spot trading using leverage, futures contracts, option contracts, cryptocurrency savings accounts, cryptocurrency staking services and a platform for initial coin offerings.

Binance, however, has not secured from the SEC a license to solicit investments from the public, nor to create or operate an exchange for the buying and selling of securities as required by the Securities Regulation Code, the commission said.

As part of its continuing investor protection and financial literacy efforts, Ong said the SEC is also crafting its own regulations pertaining to cryptocurrency.

'We are drafting our own rules, specifically for cryptocurrency. So we're on top of this. however, it just takes time. You have to understand that this is new and we need to make sure that all bases are covered,' he said.