Philippines bans privacy coins; tightens BSP VASP monitoring

Published: 2026-06-19 07:30:06 |

The Philippines’ central bank (BSP) issued new VASP rules that include a privacy coins ban, barring regulated platforms from trading privacy-focused tokens such as Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC), and covering Dash as well. The BSP aims to improve transparency and consumer protection. Under BSP Memorandum No. M-2026-023, VASPs must perform enhanced due diligence and apply ongoing monitoring to every token they list. BSP requires internal risk indicators and sets “thresholds” that can trigger delisting or reassessment if liquidity withdraws, issuers become insolvent, projects face fraud/controversies, abnormal price behavior emerges, or other material security/compliance issues appear. Before listing, BSP outlines a standardized six-pillar evaluation covering issuer/beneficial-owner checks, market maturity (including the past 30 days’ market cap and average volume), transparency/traceability/security, and liquidity/reserves/redemption capability plus final legal compliance. Separately, the SEC said BlockShoals Technologies Inc. remains in a 90-day testing period and cannot begin public onboarding or trading while it integrates systems with BSP-licensed VASPs for secure peso on/off-ramp infrastructure. For traders, the privacy coins ban is the near-term driver for anonymity-focused assets that depend on local exchange listings. The broader BSP VASP monitoring framework also increases compliance-driven delisting risk, which can raise volatility around affected tokens.

Bearish

This is bearish for the directly affected privacy coins (XMR, ZEC, Dash) because the BSP privacy coins ban restricts their ability to be traded on compliant local venues. Even for tokens already listed, the new BSP VASP monitoring rules introduce clear delisting/reassessment triggers tied to liquidity, issuer solvency, fraud/controversies, security incidents, and abnormal price behavior—factors that can quickly compress order books and raise risk premiums. In the short term, traders may front-run potential delistings and liquidity changes, driving volatility. In the long term, tighter compliance standards reduce the probability of sustained exchange access, which can weigh on demand and market depth for privacy-focused assets.