With the growing popularity of digital assets globally, the establishment and operations of cryptocurrency exchanges are facing criticism in almost every nation. Most recently, the SEC in the Philippines has warned its citizens of 10 unregistered crypto exchanges.
The list of unregistered exchanges realized by the SEC of the Philippines includes big names like Kucoin, MEXC, Bybit, Kraken, BitMart, and a few others.
The commission cautioned the crypto users in the nation not to use unregistered crypto platforms because these exchanges may have been used for illegal activities like money laundering and terrorist financing.
As per the Anti Money Laundering Act in the Philippines, a Virtual Asset Services Provider, including a crypto exchange, must have to follow rules to check who their customers are, report any suspicious transactions, and keep proper records.
The SEC stated concern by noting that using unregistered crypto platforms might risk individual investors as well as their finances, along with risking the economy and reputation of the nation.
A quick overview of the size of the Philippines’ crypto market
In 2022 Philippines‘ crypto market was termed as the 2nd most prominent in terms of adoption, yet by 2023 it fell to the 6th rank and 8th in 2024, and in 2022, the total number of users was nearly 16 million, making up 14% of the total population.
With time, now the number of crypto users in the Philippines has reportedly reached the mark of 20 million, yet there is no official data supporting these figures. In 2023 and 2024, it was ranked below other markets such as Africa and Asia, and in 2023 and 2024, the topper of the adoption list was India.
Crypto market price updates
According to the data from CoinMarketCap, the crypto market capitalization is $3.76 trillion, with an increase of nearly 1.00% in the past 24 hours, and the trading volume has reached $142 million.
Since the last few sessions, Bitcoin prices seem to be moving slowly, and as of writing, it is exchanging hands at $115,015, yet Ethereum has shown a strong come back adding 3.31% to its prices in the past 24 reaching $3,687, and has surged more than 45% in the past 30 days.
The intraday gainers list has been ruled by Mantle, which grew by 21.45% reaching $0.8896, followed by Pump(dot)fun, Litecoin, POL, Sei, Raydium, Uniswap, Fartcoin, Solana, and Jupiter.
