Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has imposed deposit restrictions on Coins.ph, the Philippines' largest crypto exchange, over its alleged handling of transactions for restricted offshore gaming and gambling companies, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The infractions are serious enough that the 12-year-old company could be stripped of its license to operate, one of the people said. Such an outcome would cause "an earthquake" in the Philippine crypto ecosystem, the person added.

What is at stake for the market?

Coins.ph serves more than 18 million customers and records roughly $50 million in 24-hour spot trading volume. The platform controls an estimated 75%-80% of peso-to-stablecoin liquidity in the Philippines, a critical transaction type in the world's fourth-largest remittance recipient.

More than 10.8 million Filipinos live abroad, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. They repatriate some $43 billion a year, though most rely on banks and money transfer services rather than crypto rails.

How did the restrictions work?

At the start of this month, the central bank restricted deposits made to the exchange through Coins.ph's main wallet firm, DCPay Philippines, people familiar with the process said.

The measure carries no stated end date. That distinguishes it from the temporary suspensions the BSP typically imposes for failures such as missed throughput or latency requirements. In this case, regulators gave no reason, one of the people said.

Why did gambling operators land on Coins.ph?

A little over a year ago, the central bank clamped down on e-wallet applications used for gambling, requiring supervised institutions to cut in-app access to gambling sites.

Several gambling entities then migrated to Coins.ph, according to the people. The shift gave those firms added access to crypto and stablecoins for paying offshore partners, a third person familiar with central bank regulatory processes said.

Who left the compliance team?

The enforcement pressure follows departures from the exchange's compliance ranks this year. Chief compliance officer Lexi Herrera, head of AML transaction monitoring Chris Beano and money laundering reporting officer Irish Calagui have all left the company.

Neither Coins.ph nor the central bank responded to requests for comment by publication time.

What is the company's background?

Coins.ph launched as one of the earliest crypto wallets and exchanges in the Philippines before pivoting to broader financial services. In January 2019, Indonesian technology company Gojek acquired the platform for $95 million.

The exchange was later sold to Wei Zhou, previously chief financial officer at Binance.

With deposit restrictions already binding and no stated timeframe for relief, the coming weeks will show whether Coins.ph can negotiate a remediation path with the BSP or becomes the test case for how far the central bank will go against crypto platforms serving offshore gambling flows.