SEC tests waters with crypto, Binance-linked services

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is keeping the door open to testing Binance-linked services in the Philippines, but stressed that participation in its regulatory sandbox does not guarantee eventual approval.

SEC Chair Francis Lim said the regulator was willing to test emerging technologies rather than reject them simply because they were new or unfamiliar.

READ: SEC clarifies BlockShoals crypto participation

“We should not close our minds to innovation,” Lim said. “We do not approve innovation only because it is new; neither do we reject it because it is unfamiliar.”

His comments came after Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president Ramon Monzon had questioned the SEC’s decision to admit Blockshoals Technologies Inc., a local partner of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, into its regulatory sandbox.

Lim stressed admission into the sandbox was only part of an evaluation process and that the initiative “may or may not happen.”

“But we have to test,” he said. “We look at the data. We look at the appropriate regulation. In fact, it is a complete set of due diligence.”

SEC Commissioner Rogelio Quevedo likewise clarified that sandbox participation neither clears a company of previous violations nor puts it on a fast track toward securing regulatory approval.