Key Facts

• Binance can provide crypto trading access to users in the Philippines through its arrangement with BlockShoals Technologies, which serves as a crypto asset intermediary, introducing Philippine users to Binance's global trading platform.
• Neither Binance nor BlockShoals is authorized to handle peso transfers or perform other activities regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the nation's central bank, as they do not hold a local virtual asset service provider (VASP) license.
• Marie Antonette Quiogue, head of legal at BlockShoals, stated that Binance's local operations fall under the SEC's crypto asset service provider (CASP) framework and that the arrangement is part of Binance's effort to reestablish a presence in the Philippines.
• The arrangement relies on the SEC's Strategic Sandbox, or StratBox, which permits trading access without a local VASP license, but Quiogue acknowledged that the BSP's regulations still apply and that they are coordinating with the SEC on the matter.
• The BSP told Cointelegraph that participation in the regulatory sandbox does not exempt an entity from complying with applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including any licensing requirements imposed by relevant regulators.