The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Philippines is facing mounting criticism from crypto traders who accuse the regulator of protecting underperforming local exchanges at the expense of investors.

In a viral Facebook thread reacting to recent outages at Maya Crypto and other issues on local platforms, some social media posts alleged such disruptions happen “every time the market price is moving up.”

“They don’t want their customers to move their profits,” one user alleged. “The PH SEC doesn’t want to act on this kind of modus as long as they have a license to operate, they can do whatever they want.”

The SEC has yet to comment on these accusations. However, the backlash highlights growing frustration among traders who say downtime is more common in Philippine exchanges than in global platforms like Binance or OKX.

Industry observers warn that without stronger consumer protection measures, users will continue moving their funds abroad, undermining the country’s bid to grow its own fintech ecosystem.