Despite its best efforts, the Philippine think tank appears to be having difficulty prohibiting the trading platform for quite some time now.
Infrawatch PH has recently filed a complaint against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and asked the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the platform and its records.
According to the official filing issued on July 25th, the think tank accused Binance of carrying out illegal activities in the Philippines without having proper approval.
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Terry Ridon, the leader of Infrawatch PH, mentioned that the crypto exchange hasn’t established an office in Manila and that it doesn’t have any records with the SEC and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). However, Binance still offered spot trading, futures contracts, and other products in the Philippines, he added.
Ridon also mentioned that the SEC should apply the same rules to every crypto-based company and not allow crypto exchanges to operate in the country if they don’t have proper licensing. He emphasized:
We believe the above products are in the nature of securities, which under prevailing rules, may ‘not be sold or offered for sale or distribution within the Philippines without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the Commission.
Infrawatch PH also underlined the fact that Binance has been already banned in numerous countries and that it might have been part of the reason why LUNA crashed by 99.9%. The letter implied that the crypto exchange is a liability and that people using it are risking to lose all of their money.
The news arrives a few weeks after the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) rejected the lobbying group’s proposal to ban the exchange over illegal and false promotions, with the agency citing the lack of legal basis.
On another hand, yesterday, Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) sued Bloomberg Businessweek Hong Kong’s edition for three defamation claims.
