Cryptocurrency in the Philippines: taxes and the licensing freeze
In short. The revenue bureau treats your crypto profit as ordinary income. It joins your salary and everything else on the graduated table, which starts at zero and reaches 35%, so your rate depends on what you earn in total rather than on what you traded. Swapping one coin for another counts as a disposal, which makes the record-keeping heavier here than in Poland or France. Two regulators split the market, and the central bank has stopped issuing licences.
- PROFIT ON A SALE
- 0% to 35%ordinary income tax, graduated
- FIRST ₱250,000
- 0%where the income tax table starts
- COIN FOR COIN
- Taxableeach swap counts as a disposal
- NEW CENTRAL BANK LICENCES
- Frozennone issued since September 2022
- SEC CASP CAPITAL
- ₱100 millionplus incorporation in the Philippines
- LEGAL TENDER
- Nothe peso stays the only legal money
Your profit is ordinary income
Philippine law reserves its capital gains rates for other assets: 6% for real property, 15% for unlisted shares. Crypto falls under neither.
The revenue bureau treats gains from selling or trading crypto as ordinary income. Your profit joins your salary, your freelance invoices and your other earnings, and the graduated table decides the rate. The first ₱250,000 of annual income meets 0%, and the top bracket takes 35%.
Mining rewards, staking rewards and NFT proceeds go to the same place, taxable at the moment they reach you.
Every swap counts
Trade bitcoin for ether and the revenue bureau sees a disposal, calculated on the peso value at the moment of the trade.
Compare the paperwork that produces. Poland, France and Ukraine leave crypto-to-crypto exchanges outside the tax, so a Polish trader who rebalances fifty times reports one event at the end. You would report fifty, each needing its own peso valuation for the day it happened. Log them as you go; reconstructing a year of trades from exchange history afterwards is where the work really lands.
Two regulators, one of them closed
The central bank licenses virtual asset service providers, which covers exchanging crypto for pesos, transfers and custody. It has issued no new licence since September 2022.
That freeze began as a three-year review and did not end on schedule. In a memorandum dated 20 August 2025 the central bank extended it from 1 September with no end date, citing fraud, money laundering and risks to financial stability, and said it would reassess as conditions change. Firms that already hold a licence continue to operate.
The securities commission covers the other half: crypto-assets offered as investments, and the providers who serve them. Anyone building a business here now goes through the commission, because it is the only regulator taking applications.
What the securities rules ask
The commission issued its rules on crypto-asset service providers on 30 May 2025, with operating guidelines alongside them, and both took effect on 5 July 2025.
A provider has to incorporate in the Philippines with a physical presence, hold ₱100 million in capital, disclose information about the crypto-assets it offers and meet the anti-money-laundering regime in full. The rules also set out what a crypto-asset financial consumer can expect, which gives retail users a footing they lacked before.
What this means if you are moving there
Filipinos took up crypto early and in large numbers, and the rules arrived years afterwards.
Your rate follows your total income rather than the asset, which works well on a modest salary and badly on a large one. Against that, every swap creates a reportable event, the peso valuations are yours to produce, and a newcomer cannot obtain a central bank licence while the freeze holds. Read the securities route first if you plan a business here.
Allowed
- Buy, hold and sell crypto: the law permits all of it
- Pay nothing on the first ₱250,000 of annual income, where the table starts at zero
- Register as a crypto-asset service provider with the securities commission
- Use the exchanges that held a central bank licence before the freeze
Restricted
- Looking for a crypto capital gains rate: the 6% and 15% rates cover other assets
- Treating a coin-for-coin swap as tax-free, since the bureau counts it as a disposal
- Applying for a new central bank licence, frozen since September 2022 with no end date
- Paying in crypto as of right, since the peso remains the only legal money
How the rules took shape
The central bank sets out its licensing framework for virtual asset service providers.
The central bank freezes new licence applications for three years to review the framework.
The securities commission issues its rules on crypto-asset service providers, effective from 5 July, with ₱100 million capital and local incorporation.
The central bank extends the licensing freeze from 1 September with no end date, citing fraud and money laundering risks.
The securities route stays open, the central bank route stays shut, and the revenue bureau taxes gains as ordinary income.
Worth knowing
In 2021 the country became the heart of play-to-earn: Filipinos earned $300–400 a month in Axie Infinity against a minimum wage near $200. The game went from 30,000 to a million daily players in four months.
Common questions
What rate will I pay on my crypto profit?
Whatever your total income puts you on. The revenue bureau treats crypto gains as ordinary income on the graduated table, which starts at 0% for the first ₱250,000 a year and reaches 35%.
Is there a capital gains tax on crypto?
No. The 6% capital gains tax covers real property and the 15% rate covers unlisted shares. Neither applies to crypto.
Do I owe tax when I swap one coin for another?
Yes. The bureau treats each swap as a disposal, valued in pesos at the time of the trade, so keep records from the start.
Can a new exchange get a licence?
Not from the central bank, which has issued none since September 2022 and extended the freeze with no end date in August 2025. The securities commission still registers crypto-asset service providers.
What does a provider need to register?
Incorporation in the Philippines with a physical office, ₱100 million in capital, disclosure of the crypto-assets offered and full anti-money-laundering compliance.
Sources
Other countries
Updated 20.08.2026 · this is reference material, not investment or tax advice