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Coins.ph, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines, is facing punitive action from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) over allegations that it served offshore gambling operators, CoinDesk reported on Tuesday, citing two people with knowledge of the situation. One of them said the alleged infractions are serious enough to strip the company of its license, an outcome they described as "an earthquake" for the local crypto industry.
The first concrete sign of trouble came on Sept. 29, when the central bank partially suspended the payment network access of DCPay Philippines, the electronic money issuer that handles peso movements for Coins.ph. Industry body Philippine Payments Management Inc. relayed the order to banks and e-wallets in an advisory citing BSP Monetary Board Resolution No. 839, BitPinas reported. Incoming transfers to Coins.ph wallets over InstaPay and PESONet are now rejected, while outbound transfers to banks and other e-wallets remain permitted.
Two weeks on, the restriction has not been lifted. The exchange's own status page still lists InstaPay and PESONet cash-ins as under maintenance under an incident opened on Sept. 29 at 1 p.m. Manila time, while cash-outs on both rails are shown as operational. People familiar with the matter told CoinDesk the curb carries no end date, unlike the temporary suspensions the BSP typically imposes on payment participants that fail throughput or latency requirements.
The allegations trace back to a 2025 BSP circular, M-2025-029, which ordered e-wallet operators to cut in-app access to gambling sites. According to CoinDesk's sources, several gambling entities shifted their business to Coins.ph after that crackdown, using crypto and stablecoin rails to pay offshore partners. Three senior compliance staff have also left the company this year, including chief compliance officer Lexi Herrera, though no link between the departures and the BSP action has been established.
The trading business itself is held by a separate entity, Betur Inc., which appears on the BSP's list of registered virtual asset service providers. That license has not been suspended, but cutting off bank cash-ins removes the main way Filipino users fund their accounts in pesos.
The stakes for the local market are significant. Coins.ph has more than 18 million customers and accounts for an estimated 75% to 80% of peso-to-stablecoin liquidity in the country, according to CoinDesk. The exchange, which Gojek acquired in 2019 and later sold to former Binance chief financial officer Wei Zhou, sits at the centre of a remittance corridor that brings roughly $43 billion a year into the Philippines.
Update
In a statement shared with Blockhead on October 14, the company said it “firmly denies any claim that it knowingly serves offshore gaming or gambling operators.” It said it holds itself to the standards of the BSP, the Anti-Money Laundering Council and other regulators, and is investing in its compliance and control functions while working with regulators “to enhance our operations.”
“Our users’ funds are safe; we continue to operate as a BSP licensed institution,” the company said, adding that it expects to “fully restore affected services soon.” The statement did not address the central bank resolution, the restriction on DCPay’s payment network access, or the compliance departures. The BSP has not commented publicly.
The denial is limited to knowingly serving gambling operators. That leaves open whether such firms used the platform without the company’s knowledge, which is likely to be the question the BSP looks at. The next thing to watch is whether the central bank lifts the restriction on DCPay or moves against Betur’s VASP license.
