Binance’s latest attempt to crack the Philippine market just hit a wall. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s central bank, confirmed on June 11 that neither Binance nor its local partner, BlockShoals Technologies Inc., holds a Certificate of Authority to operate as a Virtual Asset Service Provider.
The timing is pointed. Binance announced its partnership with BlockShoals barely two weeks earlier, on May 25, framing the deal as a legitimate path back into a market that blocked the exchange’s website in March 2024. The BSP’s response was essentially: not so fast.
Two regulators, two licenses, one problem
Here’s the thing about operating a crypto exchange in the Philippines. You need approval from two separate bodies. The Securities and Exchange Commission handles oversight of crypto asset intermediaries through its Strategic Sandbox, known as StratBox. The BSP, meanwhile, controls the VASP license, which is the authorization needed to actually offer virtual asset services to Filipino users.
BlockShoals had been making progress on the SEC side. The company received In-Principle Approval from the SEC in November 2025 and secured full Notice of Approval on April 14, 2026, as a Crypto Asset Intermediary under the sandbox framework.
