Jurisdictional Reset?!

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has officially redefined the boundaries of digital asset oversight in the country. In an exclusive written response provided to BitPinas, the central bank clarified that order-book crypto-to-crypto trading for speculative or investment purposes “fits naturally” under the regulatory perimeter of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

To formalize this handover, the BSP confirmed it is preparing to expose amendments to Circular No. 1108 (its 2021 Virtual Asset Service Provider rulebook) for public comment.

Historically, the BSP treated all virtual asset-to-virtual asset exchanges under the same lens as traditional money-changing and foreign-exchange dealing. However, following the SEC’s rollout of its Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) rules, the central bank is actively delineating where simple, utility-driven value conversion ends and investment-driven trading begins. While the SEC draws its standards from IOSCO guidelines, the BSP’s framework will remain strictly anchored on FATF anti-money laundering and payments risk protocols.

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The Fee Freeze: BDO, Metrobank, PNB, and Peers Drop InstaPay & PESONet Charges to ₱0

Following the rollout of BSP Circular No. 1238, which lifted a five-year freeze on retail electronic payment pricing, a zero-fee wave has swept across the Philippine commercial banking sector. Lenders are abandoning transfer fees in an industry-wide effort to expand digital financial inclusion.

Binance PH Comeback Hits Turf War at Home and Abroad

The PSE Vows to Fight: Traditional capital markets are preparing for intense competition. PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon publicly expressed surprise at the regulatory reversal allowing Binance’s sandbox return, vowing that the stock bourse will aggressively change its strategy to protect its retail base. Monzon plans to raise the matter with SEC Chair Francis Lim.

The Feud of the Crypto Kings: The announcement that Binance has officially entered the Philippines via the SEC sandbox triggered an explosion of activity across Chinese-language crypto communities. OKX founder Star Xu used the momentum to publicly hammer Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) over historical risk governance flaws.

Regulatory Parity: Buenaventura Calls for Market Entry for All Foreign Exchanges

Weighing in on the BlockShoals-Binance sandboxed model, Blockchain Council of the Philippines President Luis Buenaventura stated that the historical enforcement campaign against Binance was fundamentally about maintaining regulatory parity.

Yield Guild Games Sunsets Web3 Publishing Arm 'YGG Play' to Enter Global AI Data Economy

Yield Guild Games (YGG) announced that it will completely sunset its web3 game publishing business unit, YGG Play, by August 1, 2026. The organization cited a harsh, prolonged macroeconomic downturn and aggressive capital outflows within the altcoin markets as the primary reasons for discontinuing the unprofitable division.

The closure will terminate 35 internal employee roles and retire the YGGPlay.fun website, its launchpad, and marketing support for alternative gaming titles. While web3 versions of Ragnarok Breaker and GIGACHADBAT will remain operational via their independent dev studios, YGG is actively redirecting its resources into the global AI training dataset market.

Going Back to the Roots of Earning

YGG Co-Founder Gabby Dizon clarified that the pivot is explicitly not a web3 exit, and the core YGG token will continue normal market operations. Instead, the guild is leveraging its core strength, organizing massive online communities to execute coordinated digital tasks, to supply behavioral gameplay datasets directly to AI training labs. As part of this push, the group rebranded its web3 media platform to AI Alerts, connecting workers in the Philippines with remote AI data-labeling and training jobs. The newly launched AI task marketplace recorded 27,000 applications within its first five days.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has entered into a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Malaysia’s Zetrix AI Berhad group. The agreement designates the Zetrix Layer-1 public blockchain platform as the foundational protocol layer for the upcoming Philippine public blockchain infrastructure.

Coins.ph Integrates Bitget Token ($BGB$) into Instant Retail Convert Feature

Locally licensed digital asset platform Coins.ph has expanded its asset roster by integrating Bitget Token ($BGB$) into its retail "Convert" application. Starting July 9, users can execute near-instant, automated swaps between the Philippine Peso (PHP) and $BGB$.

VPN Block Removed: Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Restores Direct Philippine Access

Local retail investors confirmed that the international online trading platform Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is once again accessible without a Virtual Private Network (VPN) across major domestic internet service providers (including PLDT, Globe, and Converge). Telecom providers originally blocked the platform in late 2025 following an SEC advisory flagging the entity for offering unregistered financial instruments.

Get Ready for Coinfest Asia!

Coinfest Asia 2026, organized by Indonesia Crypto Network through its subsidiary Coinvestasi, will take place from Aug. 20 to 21 at Melasti Beach in Bali, Indonesia. The event is structured to bring together digital asset institutions, developers, and market participants. According to an announcement from the organizers, the event will introduce specialized content tracks and localized regional briefings.

Tickets for Coinfest Asia 2026 are now available! Use this link to get a discount!

Did You Benefit from the Free InstaPay Transfers This Week?

By Michael Mislos, Editor-in-Chief, BitPinas