eToro Faces Philippines Scrutiny for Alleged Securities Sale

Regulations in the crypto industry have become a watchword as global financial authorities increase pressure on crypto service providers to ensure regulated and authorized operations across various jurisdictions. Not left behind, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is strengthening its oversight of the local crypto market to address non-compliant platforms.

In line with this, the regulatory commission has issued a public disclaimer against the crypto trading platform eToro.
Philippine Tags eToro Unauthorized

According to the Philippine SEC website, eToro is not authorized to sell or offer securities to the public in the Philippines.

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The regulator asserted that although the platform “describes itself as an investing and trading platform which aims to make trading accessible to anyone, anywhere and reduce the dependency on traditional financial institutions,” it is not registered as a corporation in the Philippines and operates without the necessary license to sell securities.

Condemning the platform’s approach to operations within the Philippines, the commission emphasized that eToro targets Filipinos by offering promotional campaigns on social media to attract users to trade using its main website and mobile applications. At the same time, it has not fulfilled the requirements to operate as a licensed broker.

The SEC urged the public to exercise caution before investing in unregistered online investment platforms like eToro and their representatives.