- The Philippines’ SEC urges Google and Apple to remove Binance from their app stores, highlighting potential risks to Filipino investors.
- SEC chairman Emilio Aquino stressed the necessity of removing Binance to safeguard Filipino investors’ funds and prevent further illegal activities detrimental to the economy.
- The Philippine SEC accused Binance of operating without registration and offering unregistered securities, while also facing legal action from US regulators for mishandling client funds and operating unlawfully.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines has mandated that Google and Apple remove the cryptocurrency exchange Binance from their respective app stores.
SEC flags Binance
The SEC regulators conveyed that they had formally reached out to Google and Apple on Tuesday, requesting the removal of apps affiliated with Binance from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
SEC chairman Emilio Aquino emphasised that the ongoing accessibility of Binance websites and applications to the public “poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos.”
Moreover, Aquino highlighted the importance of removing Binance “to prevent the further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country, and to protect the investing public from its detrimental effects on our economy.”
Also read: Binance tax evasion trial rescheduled to May 17 in Nigeria
Also read: Binance navigates legal storm amidst Nigerian takedown
Binance under scrutiny
Philippine SEC asserted that Binance was operating as an unregistered broker, offering unregistered securities to Filipinos, thereby breaching the nation’s securities regulations.
As early as November of last year, the SEC purportedly issued a warning to the people of the Philippines against using Binance and initiated an examination into the possibility of prohibiting the company’s services in the country.
The SEC warned that Binance, without the proper licence, actively solicits funds from Filipinos on social media. It advises investors to swiftly liquidate or transfer their assets to registered Philippine exchanges.
Binance is also facing lawsuits from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, accusing the company of mishandling client funds and operating an unlicenced and unlawful exchange.
