Crypto Exchanges
By Sydney TheCMO
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What the Freeze Actually Means. Applications that were already submitted before the suspension kicks in can still be evaluated —…
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Tighter Rules for Virtual Asset Firms. The freeze on payment operators is only part of what's in the draft.
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BSP's Broader Oversight Push. It's worth stepping back for a second. The BSP has been building out its VASP regulatory framework…
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The Philippines is pulling the brakes on new payment operators. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas — the country's central bank, known as the BSP — has put out a draft circular…
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The stated reason is pretty straightforward: the BSP wants time to do a serious review of how it currently classifies and licenses payment operators.
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Applications that were already submitted before the suspension kicks in can still be evaluated — but don't expect a final answer anytime soon.
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That's a pretty significant brake on a market that's been moving fast. Across Southeast Asia, digital payments and virtual asset adoption have grown sharply in recent years, and…
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The draft, if finalized, takes effect 15 days after publication. The BSP is still collecting feedback.
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The freeze on payment operators is only part of what's in the draft. The BSP is also tightening how its supervised institutions can work with virtual asset service providers —…
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Under the proposal, any BSP-supervised institution offering merchant acquisition services would need to deal directly with regulated VASPs only. Not just any crypto firm.
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And those relationships wouldn't be casual. The draft calls for enhanced due diligence, active monitoring, and hard limits on transaction and settlement sizes.
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See also: Robinhood Chain Surges to $4.13M Daily Revenue with 17M Transactions in Weeks
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But the detail that probably raised the most eyebrows in the industry: the draft categorizes VASPs alongside gambling operators, gaming companies, adult-oriented businesses, and…
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It's worth stepping back for a second. The BSP has been building out its VASP regulatory framework for several years now, and the Philippines was actually one of the earlier…
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There's also a clear anti-financial crime angle here. Enhanced due diligence requirements and transaction limits are standard tools for reducing exposure to money laundering and…
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