Overview
- The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas told local media on Thursday that neither Binance nor its partner BlockShoals holds the central bank VASP certificate required to run regulated crypto payment and transaction services.
- The BSP clarified that participation in the SEC’s StratBox supervised sandbox does not substitute for central bank approval and that entities must meet both agencies' rules independently.
- The SEC has revised its sandbox wording to call Binance a “global crypto-asset service provider” and, according to reporting, added a condition that BlockShoals integrate with a licensed domestic VASP within 90 days before any Binance-linked onboarding can begin.
- Binance’s planned comeback is still possible in principle but effectively stalled because live access will require BlockShoals and Binance to satisfy SEC sandbox conditions and separately obtain BSP VASP authorization.
- Regulatory actions that shaped today’s stance include the SEC’s 2023 finding that Binance operated without registration, the NTC website block in 2024, and the Binance app’s removal from the Philippine Google Play store in early 2026, all of which keep consumer access limited until licensing gaps are closed.