Philippines Bans Privacy Coins and Tightens Crypto Listing and Trading Rules

_{Photo credit: monticello / Shutterstock.com}

The Philippines’ central bank has introduced stricter rules governing which cryptocurrencies licensed platforms may offer, including a prohibition on privacy coins.

In Memorandum M-2026-023, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) instructed all Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to establish “robust due diligence and accreditation” procedures before listing or enabling the trading of a coin or token.

The assessment process is organized around six pillars: the issuer’s background; market maturity; use cases; transparency, traceability, and security; redemption, liquidity, and reserves; and legal and regulatory compliance. Platforms are expected to examine factors including an issuer’s ownership structure, audited financial statements, trading volumes, token utility, cybersecurity audits, reserve arrangements, and exposure to money laundering or terrorist financing risks.

VASPs must also monitor whether listed assets continue to meet their original assessment criteria. Each provider must establish thresholds that could trigger the delisting of an asset.

The BSP said VASPs must suspend or remove tokens in circumstances including the loss of liquidity support, issuer insolvency, inadequate reserves, de-pegging, misleading disclosures, abnormal price movements, or involvement in a scam. Material cybersecurity threats and regulatory action also justify the removal of an asset.

The memorandum explicitly prohibits VASPs from listing or supporting “anonymity-enhancing” virtual assets, commonly known as privacy coins, which are designed to conceal or obscure information about transactions and their participants.

The BSP noted:

These guidelines are underpinned by the Bangko Sentral’s objective of promoting financial stability and protecting the financial welfare of customers by ensuring that VA services are provided in a safe, sound, and consumer-centric manner.

Tokens classified or offered as securities may also fall under the separate crypto-asset service provider rules administered by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission.