Key facts
- The Philippine SEC is ready to embrace the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs).
- Commissioner Rogelio Quevedo believes the legal and regulatory framework is sufficient.
- Tokenized investment products could offer legitimate options for overseas Filipino workers.
- The SEC is leveraging AI and collaborating with online platforms to combat investment scams.
- The SEC's Strategic Sandbox allows supervised testing of new fintech products and business models.
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated its readiness to support the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), with Commissioner Rogelio Quevedo asserting that the country possesses the requisite legal and regulatory infrastructure. Speaking at the Philippine Blockchain Week 2026, Quevedo expressed confidence in the existing laws and regulatory understanding to embrace asset tokenization, suggesting it could drive innovation in capital markets and transform stock exchanges.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Quevedo highlighted the potential for tokenized investment products to provide overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with more legitimate avenues for investment, addressing their capital and investment knowledge gaps and steering them away from scams. He also noted the SEC's enhanced enforcement capabilities, including the use of artificial intelligence, to pursue unregistered investment schemes and its collaboration with online platforms like Google and TikTok to remove illicit offerings.
These statements position regulated tokenization as a dual-purpose initiative for the Philippines, fostering capital markets innovation while simultaneously serving as a tool for investor protection. The SEC's efforts are further supported by its Strategic Sandbox (StratBox), a framework that permits fintech companies to test novel products and business models in a controlled, live environment under regulatory oversight. This sandbox allows for waivers or modifications of certain requirements for participants, though it does not exempt them from existing laws.
As of November 2025, four companies had been accepted into the StratBox. These include a participant testing a tokenized real estate offering, two exploring access to U.S. equities, and BlockShoals Technologies, which received initial approval to test cryptocurrency-related products and services.