MONEY can disappear in seconds. Accountability takes much longer.
When hackers recently made off with approximately $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange, the shockwave went far beyond a routine security breach. US law enforcement quickly tied the attack to North Korea-linked actors, with federal authorities later securing court authorizations to seize or restrain over $1.2 billion of those stolen virtual assets.
For more than two days, withdrawals froze. When the gates finally opened, customers rushed to pull out billions. Binance later reported it patched the hole using its emergency user-protection fund and internal resources. It was a stark, multi-billion-dollar reminder of how fluid digital wealth is — and how agonizingly difficult recovery becomes when a platform sits beyond domestic reach.
A major overseas hack does not mean every digital exchange is a house of cards. Nor does a corporate promise to “make users whole” settle the deeper questions of consumer safety. For the everyday Filipino navigating the digital economy, the pressing question is far more basic: When your money gets stuck, vanishes, or becomes inaccessible, who actually answers?
Not a crypto column
Let me be upfront: I am not a cryptocurrency trader, and this is not a column dissecting volatile price charts or speculative tokens.
My perspective is shaped by the trenches of financial technology.
Years ago, I worked on the frontlines of digital customer due diligence and automated anti-money laundering (AML) compliance as part of the team behind eComply, a homegrown system designed to help institutions automate their regulatory obligations.
That journey was anything but a walk in the park. Back in January 2015, former AMLC Secretariat executive director Julia C. Bacay-Abad wrote to Mohur, noting, “We appreciate your resolve to fight crime, particularly money laundering,” as we sought to integrate AML solutions into a remittance platform. Yet regulatory approval required an uphill climb.
When our initial digital due diligence proposal was turned down by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in 2016, we appealed. By 2017, the AMLC reconsidered, issuing Opinion No. 17-08 to allow Mohur Inc. to maintain electronic customer records under our proposed framework.
That hard-won experience taught me an enduring truth: Technology can accelerate compliance, but it can never substitute for institutional responsibility. A software script can verify an identity or flag a suspicious transaction, but the institution itself remains entirely accountable under the law.
Who answers when things go wrong?
Consider the regulatory reality. Binance has never been authorized to operate as a cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines. Back in November 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) flagged the platform for operating without registration and lacking authority to offer securities to the public, eventually moving to block access.
Yet, many Filipinos continue finding workaround paths to offshore exchanges.
When you place your hard-earned savings on an offshore platform, the risks are sobering: Where do you turn when withdrawals are locked? Who bears legal responsibility? What recourse exists when a foreign entity stonewalls your complaints? The core bottleneck is jurisdiction. A foreign app operating on a smartphone does not magically fall under Philippine supervision just because a local user downloaded it. Local regulators and law enforcement face monumental walls investigating foreign operators and clawing back funds held abroad.
We do not need to look far to understand the limits of cross-border recovery. Nearly a decade ago, the infamous 2016 RCBC cyber heist saw $81 million stolen from Bangladesh Bank funneled straight into local accounts and casinos.
Despite exhaustive probes, only a tiny fraction was ever recovered. If tracking stolen funds through traditional, highly regulated banking channels is that tortuous, chasing an offshore crypto platform is an even steeper climb.
A local test and the road ahead
Closer to home, the recent turbulence surrounding Coins.ph deserves a sober look. Following Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) directives, incoming fund transfers via InstaPay and PESONet involving DCPay Philippines Inc. — the electronic money issuer behind Coins.ph peso wallets — hit roadblocks alongside temporary QR Ph collection outages.
Coins.ph assured the public that its licenses remain intact, funds are safe, and core functions like cash-outs and crypto trading continue. Crucially, a clear distinction must be made: DCPay handles peso electronic money wallets, while Betur Inc.
operates virtual asset services under separate BSP authorization. Restricting DCPay’s incoming channels should not be conflated with a suspension of Betur’s crypto operations.
Regulation is essential to protect the public, but it must carry an obligation of clarity. When a licensed player loses vital channels, users deserve transparent explanations regarding affected services and clear paths to normalization. Supervisory confidentiality has its place, but public accountability is just as vital.
At the same time, the BSP’s ongoing moratorium on new virtual asset service provider licenses, born from legitimate cybercrime and consumer protection worries, risks driving users further into the unregulated shadows of offshore platforms. We must keep licensed doors accessible, make the true cost of convenience visible, and ensure authorizations are easy for ordinary citizens to verify.
Crypto will always carry inherent risks. But policymakers, regulators and industry players dictate where Filipinos take those risks — and what safety nets exist when things unravel.
At a properly licensed institution, there is a domestic regulator to approach, a clear rulebook to invoke, and a local legal system ready to hear a grievance.
Offshore, those doors are firmly bolted shut.
The question is not whether Filipinos will continue embracing digital assets. They will. The question is whether, when the stakes are highest, someone on this side of the border will answer the call.
Jun Burgos is a communications executive and columnist with over 20 years of experience across journalism, diplomacy and financial technology. He previously served as an information attaché in Canberra, a consultant to the Philippine Senate on issues management, and a pioneer in domestic eKYC/AML compliance systems.
