Coins.ph Faces Philippine Central Bank Action Over Offshore Gambling Links

Coins.ph, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines, is facing punitive action from the country's central bank, according to CoinDesk, which cited two people with knowledge of the situation. The alleged infractions involve serving offshore gambling firms and are serious enough that the 12-year-old company could be stripped of its license to operate, one of the people said, describing the potential consequences as an 'earthquake' for the Philippines' crypto ecosystem. Neither Coins.ph nor Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) responded to requests for comment before publication.

The restrictions reportedly began at the start of this month, when the BSP imposed limits on deposits made to the exchange through its main wallet firm, DCPay Philippines. Unlike the temporary suspensions typically imposed on market participants for failing to meet throughput or latency requirements, this restriction was not time-bound and no reason was given, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

The regulatory pressure follows the departure of several high-profile compliance staffers, including chief compliance officer Lexi Herrera, head of anti-money laundering transaction monitoring Chris Beaño and money laundering reporting officer Irish Calagui, CoinDesk reported. The exits came before the central bank's latest move against the exchange.

A little over a year ago, the central bank cracked down on the use of e-wallet applications for gambling, ordering institutions under its supervision to cut in-app access to gambling sites. Several gambling entities subsequently migrated to Coins.ph, according to the people, a shift that also gave those firms access to crypto and stablecoins for paying offshore partners, according to a third person familiar with the central bank's regulatory processes.

The scale of the exchange makes the case significant for the Philippine market. Coins.ph has more than 18 million customers, a 24-hour spot trading volume of about $50 million, and controls roughly 75% to 80% of peso-to-stablecoin liquidity in the country — a key transaction flow in the world's fourth-largest remittance recipient. More than 10.8 million Filipinos live abroad, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, and send home about $43 billion a year, though most still rely on banks and money transfer services.

Coins.ph was one of the earliest crypto wallets and exchanges in the Philippines and later pivoted to providing broader financial services. Indonesian technology company Gojek bought the company for $95 million in January 2019; it was later sold to Wei Zhou, previously chief financial officer at Binance.