The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has drafted a circular that would freeze new payment-system operator registrations for 12 months while it reviews licensing rules. The pause targets merchant-acquiring chains that serve crypto businesses, adding due diligence, monitoring and transaction limits for institutions in that space.
The Philippines' central bank wants to stop registering new payment-system operators for a year, giving itself time to rework who counts as regulated inside the payments chain. The draft circular from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) also targets layered merchant-acquiring arrangements, where intermediaries, pooled accounts and crypto-linked merchants can blur who is responsible for compliance.
A year-long pause on new operator entries
The BSP says the freeze would support a holistic review of the Operator of Payment System (OPS) taxonomy, registration and licensing framework, along with related risk-management requirements. The review would cover a market of merchant aggregators, platforms, intermediaries and pooled settlement structures with multiple merchant-facing layers.
If adopted, the 12-month suspension would start 15 calendar days after the final circular is published in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation. Unregistered firms still could not begin payment-system operations while approvals are on hold, and companies needing OPS registration would still require BSP permission. Applications filed before the freeze could undergo technical review, but the BSP would hold back final approval or denial until the suspension ends. As the circular remains a draft, its final scope, wording and any exceptions may still change before issuance.
Tighter controls for crypto-linked merchant chains
The draft also targets merchant-acquiring chains where BSP-supervised institutions process payments for virtual asset businesses through intermediaries. According to Live Bitcoin News, covered institutions would need direct agreements with virtual asset service providers and would have to improve customer verification systems before offering payment services.
These obligations cover merchant identification, KYC and KYB checks, AML controls, sanctions screening and fraud monitoring, including where payments move through intermediaries, pooled accounts or shared QR channels. Separately, the draft classifies virtual asset service providers as one of the higher-risk business categories, alongside gambling, gaming, adult businesses and money service businesses.
A large registered market
The scale of the existing market explains why the review matters: the BSP's public register listed 314 registered OPS as of August 28, including operators marked as authorised to conduct merchant acquisition. OPS registration is not the same as a banking, electronic-money or merchant-acquisition licence, and the draft aims to clarify who can perform payment functions, who needs additional approval and who stays accountable when several firms sit between the merchant and the payment flow.
Sources: Finance Magnates, Live Bitcoin News
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