Philippines eyes payment operator registration freeze, tighter VASP checks
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BitGo Korea secures VASP registration for institutional crypto custody
Regulators reportedly accepted BitGo Korea’s registration on Tuesday, two days before stricter VASP entry requirements took effect.
Central Bank of the Philippines: Wholesale CBDCs can be used for securities settlement and cross-border payments.
PANews reported on July 2nd that the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP), in its recent "Project Agila" report, pointed out that potential applications for wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs) include financial securities settlement and large-scale cross-border payments. wCBDCs involve commercial banks and financial institutions opening accounts at the central bank, using distributed ledger technology for real-time peer-to-peer settlement. This is expected to achieve higher automation, faster processing speeds, and lower transaction costs while maintaining a similar architecture to existing RTGS systems. The BSP noted that using wCBDCs for securities transaction settlement can help shorten the time lag between transaction and final settlement, reduce settlement risk, and will use the experience gained from this project to develop a roadmap for future CBDCs.
He Yi: Binance officially enters the Philippines
According to Foresight News , He Yi tweeted that Binance has officially entered the Philippines. The accompanying announcement stated that the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally approved BlockShoals Technologies Inc. to begin testing its financial products and services under the Commission's regulatory sandbox framework. BlockShoals' "strategic sandbox" project operates on a crypto-asset intermediary model, enabling Philippine users to access products and services through its Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) partners. As part of the initial testing phase, BlockShoals will integrate its system with local virtual asset service provider partners within 90 days. Upon successful integration, BlockShoals will implement its approved testing program, including user registration through its global CASP partner Binance, while adhering to applicable safeguards and accepting regulatory oversight.
Cloudflare launches a monetization gateway that enables stablecoin payments via the x402 protocol.
PANews reported on July 2nd that, according to The Defiant, Cloudflare opened its Monetization Gateway waiting list on Wednesday, allowing customers to pay for the use of web pages, datasets, APIs, or MCP tools via stablecoin settlement using the x402 protocol. Cloudflare stated that it handles approximately one-fifth of global internet traffic, and this product is designed to address the trend of AI agents gradually replacing humans as the primary source of web traffic, arguing that traditional per-seat or subscription-based charging models are unsuitable for machine-to-machine transactions—where agents only read a page or call an API once, rather than maintaining a monthly account. Monetization Gateway provides website operators with a unified control panel, executing payment policies at the Cloudflare network edge before requests reach the origin server.
Stablecoin payments firm dtcpay closes $25M round with SBI backing
Dtcpay plans to expand its merchant network and payment products after completing a $25 million Series A backed by Japan’s SBI Group.
US sanctions Iran’s BitBank, saying it processes ‘Hormuz Safe’ Bitcoin payments
US Treasury says the Iranian exchange processed payments received through Iran’s Strait of Hormuz maritime scheme and helped move hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC.