Coins.ph reportedly faces Philippine central bank action over gambling ties
CIE News ·
Coins.ph is reportedly facing punitive regulatory action from the Philippine central bank over alleged ties to offshore gambling firms, which could result in the platform losing its operational license.
Coins.ph is facing potential punitive action from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas over allegations that it handled business transactions for restricted offshore gambling firms, CoinDesk reported. Sources told CoinDesk that the alleged infractions are severe enough that the 12-year-old exchange could lose its operating license. At the beginning of October 2026, the central bank reportedly placed open-ended restrictions on deposits made through DCPay Philippines, the primary wallet entity for Coins.ph.
The regulatory scrutiny coincides with the exit of several high-ranking compliance personnel from the exchange, including chief compliance officer Lexi Herrera, head of anti-money laundering transaction monitoring Chris Beaño, and money laundering reporting officer Irish Calagui. Neither Coins.ph nor the central bank responded to CoinDesk's requests for comment.
Coins.ph serves more than 18 million customers, processes roughly $50 million in daily spot trading volume, and accounts for 75% to 80% of peso-to-stablecoin liquidity in the Philippines. Sources said that multiple gambling operators switched to Coins.ph to access cryptocurrencies and stablecoins for offshore payments after the central bank required supervised institutions to eliminate in-app access to gambling platforms.