BSC News

Binance Looking to Acquire Philippine Firm to Obtain VASP, EMI Licenses

Binance is in the latter stage of negotiations to acquire a local Philippine firm that already has the licenses the exchange needs to operate.

Binance in the Philippines

Blockchain industry giant Binance is positive that it can get the licenses it needs to operate in the Philippines through the acquisition of a local firm.

The team is currently in the latter stages of negotiation with the company, which holds Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) and Electronic Money Issuers (EMI) licenses, in furtherance of Binance’s expansion in the region. Binance has also been closely working with authorities on legislative research and cryptocurrency education.

“We are on the end of acquiring a VASP license and EMI license in the Philippines. That is still on track,” Kenneth Stern, Binance Philippines general manager, said via a report in the Inquirer. “[The] demographic is prime for crypto usage. I think [this is] one of the reasons why we have a big adoption.”

Binance has been securing licenses in various countries across the globe throughout the year. Examples of these global expansion efforts are the completion of the Digital Asset Service Provider registration in France, preliminary license to operate in Kazakhstan, and a flurry of regulatory moves in Dubai, Bahrain, the US and Brazil.

The cryptocurrency exchange is also engaged in discussions about cryptocurrency regulation with the Philippines’ Security and Exchange Commission, central bank, and other government bodies. Binance also shared their expertise in tackling cybercrime in the cryptocurrency space through a seminar with the with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

“Binance has been actively working with the Philippine government to ensure that Filipinos are ready for cryptocurrency adoption through the mitigation of risks in the sector. While we ensure that our platform has robust security and Know Your Customer (KYC) measures in place, we also want to aid the government in creating a fertile ground for FinTech players to drive financial inclusion,” Stern said.

Related News