Philippine SEC flags dYdX, Aevo and five other platforms in investor alert
The regulator warned local promoters could face up to ₱5 million in fines and up to 21 years in prison.
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission issued a public investor alert warning Filipinos not to invest in dYdX and six other crypto trading platforms it said are not authorized to solicit investments locally. The notice also put promoter liability front and center, citing potential penalties of up to ₱5 million and up to 21 years in prison under securities law.
Key Takeaways
- The Philippine SEC warned the public against investing in seven crypto trading venues it said are not registered or authorized to solicit investments in the country.
- The alert explicitly named dYdX, Aevo, gTrade, Pacifica, Orderly, Deriv and Ostium.
- The regulator said the platforms appear to be offering investments to the public in exchange for “promised returns, profits or interest.”
- Individuals promoting the listed platforms in the Philippines were warned of potential Securities Regulation Code penalties of up to ₱5 million (about $89,000) and/or up to 21 years in prison.
Philippine SEC Names dYdX, Aevo and Other Platforms in New Investor Alert
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission posted a public investor alert on Facebook on Tuesday warning Filipinos not to invest in dYdX and six other crypto trading platforms. The SEC said the venues are not registered or authorized to solicit investments in the Philippines.
The alert named dYdX, Aevo, gTrade, Pacifica, Orderly, Deriv and Ostium. For traders, the list matters as much as the warning itself. It is not confined to a single venue type or a single brand category, and it broadens the enforcement messaging beyond the biggest centralized exchanges that typically dominate regulatory headlines.
How the SEC Framed the Activity: Investment Solicitation and Promised Returns
The SEC’s language focused on solicitation and investment-like marketing rather than purely on access to trading software. Based on its findings, the regulator said the platforms “appear to be offering investments to the public” in exchange for “promised returns, profits or interest.”
That framing can widen the surface area of what the SEC considers regulated activity. If the regulator is keying off representations of returns or profit, the practical risk shifts from just whether a platform is reachable from the Philippines to whether local-facing distribution, referral activity, or community promotion is treated as securities-related solicitation.
CASP Licensing Rules and the Promoter Liability Warning
The SEC said none of the listed entities are registered with the Commission or hold the required authorization under the Philippines’ crypto-asset service provider (CASP) framework. Under that framework, firms offering crypto-related services in the Philippines are expected to obtain licenses and meet capital and operational requirements.
The sharpest edge in the alert is the explicit promoter warning. The SEC said individuals promoting any of the listed platforms in the Philippines may face criminal liability under the Securities Regulation Code. Under Sections 28 and 73, the SEC cited penalties of up to 5 million Philippine pesos (about $89,000) in fines or up to 21 years in prison, or both.
That puts immediate compliance pressure on local affiliates, marketers, and anyone publicly encouraging use of the named venues. Even without a platform-level enforcement action, the distribution layer can get chilled fast when criminal exposure is spelled out.
Signals Traders Should Monitor After the Alert
The Philippines has shown a pattern of escalating from advisories to access restrictions against unlicensed CASPs. The SEC’s alert lands in a market that has already seen regulators move to block access to Binance in 2024 after a compliance deadline expired, alongside directives for app stores to remove the app from users’ devices in the country. Philippine regulators also blocked Coinbase and Gemini on Dec. 24, 2025.
Traders should watch for follow-on actions that convert this alert into distribution constraints, including ISP blocking or app-store directives tied to the named platforms. Another key signal is whether the SEC publishes more detail on the evidence or criteria behind its conclusion that the venues appear to offer investments with “promised returns, profits or interest.”
The next advisories matter too. In August 2025, the SEC named 10 exchanges for offering crypto services without registration, including OKX, Bybit, KuCoin and Kraken. Further list expansion would reinforce that the regulator is mapping the market broadly, not just targeting a few household names. Public responses or compliance steps from the named platforms on Philippine availability and marketing will be the fastest tell on how seriously they are treating the risk.
What This Means for Offshore Perps Access and Local Distribution
I read this as an enforcement message aimed at the onshore funnel, not a definitive statement about whether every Filipino can or cannot technically access offshore perps or DeFi rails tomorrow. The emphasis on promoter liability is the point. When regulators threaten ₱5 million fines and 21-year prison terms for promotion, the immediate impact is usually on affiliates, community channels, and local-facing acquisition, which is where a lot of retail flow is sourced.
The threshold that matters is whether the SEC moves from naming venues to constraining reachability through ISPs and app stores. If that escalation shows up again, the setup starts to look structural rather than narrative-driven, because it directly changes how liquidity is distributed into these venues from the Philippines.
