Coins.ph says Philippine central bank license remains intact amid claims of revocation

Coins.ph says its Philippine central bank license remains intact amid reports of possible revocation of alleged offshore gambling transactions.

Coins.ph says the Philippine Central Bank's license remains intact amid reports of possible cancellation of alleged offshore gambling transactions.

[Update, 11:00am UTC: Added a follow-up response from a Coins.ph spokesperson.] Coins.ph said it still has a license from the country's central bank, following reports that it may face license revocation due to alleged transactions involving limited offshore gambling operators.

According to CoinGecko, Coins.ph is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the Philippines, which recorded about $52 million in 24-hour spot trading volume on Wednesday. The reported authorization risk follows restrictions imposed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on incoming InstaPay and PESONet transfers of DCPay Philippines, the entity that operates the Coins.ph peso e-wallet service.

“Coins.ph categorically denies any claim that it knowingly serves overseas gaming or gambling operators,” the company said in an official statement shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday. "Our users' funds are safe; we continue to operate as a BSP-licensed institution," he added.

When asked if transactions involving overseas gambling operators were processed through its platform, a Coins.ph spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the exchange does not accept or allow such operators and continuously reviews customers and transactions in accordance with BSP requirements. The company did not directly confirm or deny such transactions.

In a pre-consultation, Coins.ph said the BSP has ordered it to strengthen internal controls. The company said QRPh cash and collection services are temporarily unavailable, while crypto trading, cash payments, bill payments and merchant QRPh payments remain available. QRPh payments are the central bank's national QR standard.

Local media outlet BitPinas reported that the restrictions were imposed based on BSP Monetary Board Resolution No. 839. DCPay is licensed as an electronic money issuer, while Betur Inc. Crypto Asset Services operates the exchange under a separate Virtual Asset Services Provider license. The restrictions reportedly targeted DCPay's payment operations rather than Betur's crypto services.

By 2025, the central bank ordered regulated financial institutions to remove links that provided access to gambling websites from their payment programs. However, the BSP has not publicly linked that directive to Coins.ph restrictions.

Cointelegraph also sought confirmation and comment from the BSP. A central bank representative said they would look into the inquiry but did not elaborate at the time of publication.