Is crypto legal in Philippines? Rules & regulation (2026)

The Monetary Board extended the freeze on new Virtual Asset Service Provider licenses indefinitely (the original three-year ban was due to expire this date), citing persistent fraud, money-laundering, and financial-stability risks; subject to periodic reassessment. Nine licensed VASPs remain active.

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission released two Memorandum Circulars establishing the country's first securities-law framework for Crypto-Asset Service Providers: MC 4 covers registration (minimum PHP 100 million paid-up capital, physical office), public offering, and marketing rules including social media and airdrops; MC 5 sets operational standards. Rules took effect July 5, 2025.

The Financial Action Task Force lifted enhanced monitoring after the Philippines completed its AML/CFT action plan (including strengthened VASP oversight, casino junket controls, and money-transfer registration); removal reduces cross-border compliance costs for crypto and remittance flows.

Following the SEC's November 2023 public advisory (and a 90-day grace period), the National Telecommunications Commission ordered ISPs to block Binance and the SEC directed Apple and Google to delist the app, marking the Philippines' first ISP-level enforcement action against an unlicensed major global crypto exchange.

The SEC publicly declared Binance unauthorised to solicit or sell securities in the Philippines and warned that promoting the platform could carry up to 21 years' imprisonment; a 90-day transition period was later granted so users could withdraw funds before the block took effect.

FATF grey-listed the Philippines at its June 2021 plenary due to AML/CFT deficiencies in casino oversight, non-financial businesses, and money-transfer supervision, directly accelerating BSP's 2021 VASP guidelines and the subsequent 2022 licensing moratorium as part of the remediation action plan.

The Monetary Board approved upgraded guidelines renaming Virtual Currency Exchanges as Virtual Asset Service Providers, requiring a Certificate of Authority, imposing travel-rule obligations for all VA transfers, setting robust cybersecurity and AML standards, and bringing the Philippines into conformity with FATF Recommendation 15.

The Philippine SEC published draft rules requiring any token offering to Filipinos to first undergo an 'initial assessment' to determine whether the token constitutes a security under the Securities Regulation Code, establishing the SEC's jurisdictional claim over crypto tokens as securities alongside the BSP's payments-focused VASP regime.

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority awarded its inaugural Financial Technology Solutions and Offshore Virtual Currency licenses (at $360,000 per principal license), creating a parallel offshore-facing licensing regime distinct from BSP regulation; 19 firms were licensed by October 2018, positioning the Philippines as an early Asian hub for offshore crypto operations.

The BSP issued the first dedicated rules for crypto-to-fiat exchanges, requiring registration as a Remittance and Transfer Company, minimum capital, KYC/AML compliance, and reporting of transactions above PHP 500,000, making the Philippines one of Asia's earliest jurisdictions to formally license and regulate cryptocurrency exchanges.

As Bitcoin began gaining traction in the Philippines, primarily through overseas-Filipino-worker remittance corridors, the BSP published a cautionary advisory listing the characteristics, potential benefits, and material risks of virtual currencies, signalling regulatory awareness before any formal licensing regime existed.