Global company and cryptocurrency giant Binance will soon be out of the country after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) works with Google and Apple to remove the app from their app stores for “violation of The Securities Regulation Code.”
The SEC is urging Filipino investors with investments in Binance to immediately close their positions and transfer cryptocurrency holdings to their crypto wallets or to cryptocurrency service providers registered in the Philippines.
This, after the commission sought to ban the app due to “illegal activities.”
“The SEC has identified [Binance] and concluded that the public’s continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos,” SEC Chairperson Emilio Aquino said in the letter addressed to Google and Apple.
“The sale or offer of unregistered securities to Filipinos and operating as an unregistered broker constitutes a violation of Republic Act no. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code,” he added.
As a result, the commission seeks to remove and block all operations of Binance in the country to “prevent the further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country.”
SEC had also requested the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to block access to websites used by Binance.
Early warnings
According to SEC, they have been warning the public against using the platform as well as studying the possibility of blocking the app and its operations in the country as early as November 2023.
The company has also been actively employing promotional campaigns on social media to attract the public into investing and trading through its platform.
This is despite not securing a license from SEC to solicit investments from the public and create or operate an exchange for the buying and selling of securities, as required by the Securities Regulation Code.
Binance offers a platform for trading financial instruments and investment products— including spot trading using leverage, futures contracts, option contracts, cryptocurrency savings accounts, cryptocurrency staking services, and a platform for initial coin offerings.
It currently has an average daily trading volume of $65 billion covering more than 402 cryptocurrencies, with a membership of over 183 million, making it the largest cryptocurrency site in the world, according to its website.
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