Casey Wagner

The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines has reminded citizens that Binance is not permitted to operate or offer its services in the country, even though it is trying to.&nbsp;



“Binance has been actively employing promotional campaigns on various social media platforms to attract and entice Filipinos to engage in investment and trading activities using its platforms,” the Philippines SEC wrote in an advisory Tuesday.&nbsp;



Binance does not hold the required licenses to advertise and serve customers in the Philippines, the agency added. The Philippines SEC advised citizens to exercise caution when engaging and investing with unregistered entities.&nbsp;



“Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents, representatives, promoters, recruiters, influencers, endorsers and enablers of the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> platform in selling or convincing people to invest in this platform within the Philippines even through online means may be held criminally liable,” the notice said.&nbsp;



The news comes days after the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-settlement-message-to-crypto-industry">US Department of Treasury announced a settlement with the exchange for a historic $4.3 billion</a>. In an <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-indictment-binance-changpeng-zhao">unsealed indictment made public</a> last week, the US government accused Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao of violating anti-money laundering laws, and sanctions laws.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-deal-unpacked">Here are the details of Binance and Changpeng Zhao’s plea deal</a>



“Defendants chose not to comply with US legal and regulatory requirements because it determined that doing so would limit its ability to attract and maintain US users,” the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/doj">DOJ</a> claimed.&nbsp;



Zhao, who <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/changpeng-zhao-announces-resignation-binance">pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $50 million in fines</a>, stepped down from his role as CEO and resigned from the board of directors. The government has asked the court to keep Zhao in the US until his sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 23, 2024. He faces up to 10 years in prison.&nbsp;



Zhao’s legal team has opposed the motion. The judge has not yet ruled.



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Philippines issues warning to citizens about using Binance 

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_62983f2862235" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>UnionBank has issued the country&#8217;s first blockchain-based digital peso bonds in a raise that generated $209 million</li>
 <li>The oversubscribed raise came in 11 times the size the bank had anticipated when it signalled its intention to raise at least 1 billion in digital peso bonds</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The UnionBank of the Philippines has raised P11 billion (US$209 million) after investors rallied behind the country’s first-ever blockchain-based peso bonds.



UnionBank&#8217;s digital bonds were issued through the digital registry and digital depository of the Philippine Depository &amp; Trust Corp., <a href="https://www.cnnphilippines.com/business/2022/6/2/UnionBank-digital-peso-bonds.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">local media reported</a> Thursday. The bonds were kept interoperable with the Philippine Dealing &amp; Exchange Corp fixed income market.



Singapore-based fintech company STACS was tapped to provide the blockchain-based digital securities trading infrastructure necessary to facilitate the offering. Meanwhile, HSBC and Standard Chartered were joint lead arrangers and book runners for the transaction.



The oversubscribed raise came in 11 times greater than the bank had anticipated when it signalled its intention to raise at least 1 billion pesos in its <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/union-bank-of-the-philippines-seeks-to-raise-1b-pesos-in-digital-bond-offering-70492212#:~:text=The%20Union%20Bank%20of%20the,a%20May%2023%20media%20release." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">digital peso bond offering</a> in May.



The publicly listed bank intends to use the funds to partially finance the acquisition of the domestic consumer banking business of global banking giant Citi. Late last year, UnionBank moved to acquire <a href="https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/12/24/2149751/unionbank-buys-citis-consumer-banking-business-philippines-p55-billion" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Citi&#8217;s consumer banking business</a> for P55 billion (US$1 billion).



UnionBank treasurer and head of global markets Jose Emmanuel Hilado said the&nbsp;issuance represented a &#8220;building block&#8221; in the bank&#8217;s journey to embrace digitization and industry disruption, according to the reports.



In January, tech giant IBM and Swiss crypto custodian Metaco were selected by the bank to safeguard digital assets on its balance sheet. The crypto-friendly bank also joined a consortium of other domestic banks to use Visa&#8217;s blockchain-based payment platform back in February 2018.



The bonds contain a 1.5 year tenor with a fixed rate of 3.25% per annum and are listed for trading on the Philippine Dealing &amp; Exchange Corp marketplace.



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Philippines’ First Blockchain Digital Peso Bond Offering Raises $209M

<div id="highlights-block_624e5383e0894" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Former Chief Financial Officer Wei Zhou has acquired Coins.ph, a Philippines based e-wallet, for tens of millions of dollars</li>
 <li>The sale to the former Binance executive more than doubles the price paid by Indonesian on-demand multi-service firm Gojek</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A former executive of major crypto exchange Binance has acquired Philippines-based Coins.ph in a deal worth double what the former owner, Gojek, paid for.



Gojek, an Indonesian on-demand multi-service firm, offloaded the Asian fintech e-wallet and exchange platform to Binance&#8217;s former Chief Financial Officer Wei Zhou for roughly $190 million to $200 million, <a href="https://the-ken.com/sea/story/gojek-sells-coins-ph-to-the-former-cfo-of-binance-and-grindr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Ken</a> reported Sunday.



The hope is that Zhou will rejuvenate the firm&#8217;s crypto vertical, which flailed under Gojek&#8217;s almost five-year stewardship.



“Gojek didn’t do much with it, which was unfortunate because Coins was the leading crypto wallet in the Philippines,&#8221; a senior executive familiar with the company said, as cited in the report. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;With the new management, they’ll revive that part of the business as a crypto wallet and trading platform, making it the Coinbase of Southeast Asia.”</blockquote>



While the figure is not yet public, Zhou confirmed the deal in the report, which also claims the price tag he paid is &#8220;at least twice&#8221; what Gojek had in 2017 — around $95 million.



Blockworks attempted to contact Zhou, Gojek and Coins.ph to ascertain details of the deal but did not receive an immediate reply.



Zhou, who previously worked at Binance for just under three years, left the major exchange platform last year citing personal reasons. His whereabouts since his departure are largely unknown, though according to a former employee of Binance, he is currently based in Singapore.



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