The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has issued for public comment a draft memorandum circular that would introduce a blockchain-based platform, the SEC Verification of Electronic Records and Information Trust and Authentication System (VERITAS), for digitally signing and authenticating corporate reports and other SEC filings. Once the guidelines are finalised, the SEC plans to deploy VERITAS for public use immediately. VERITAS is designed as a public-key cryptography digital signature platform that records signing events on a decentralised ledger to provide immutability, timestamping and cryptographic verification. The draft rules would integrate VERITAS with the SEC’s Electronic SEC Universal Registration Environment (eSECURE) and the Electronic Submission Authentication Portal (eSAP), shifting authentication from one-time passwords to end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication and private-key cryptographic signing. Access would require an eSECURE account and completion of a mandatory credentialing process positioned as an electronic know-your-customer procedure, including submission of verified government-issued identification and liveness detection; VERITAS would also be available via the SEC Check App. The proposed coverage extends to individuals submitting documents (including incorporators, directors, officers and authorised representatives) and to SEC-registered corporations, partnerships and other juridical entities, with eligible documents including articles of incorporation, general information sheets, board resolutions, petitions and financial statements; VERITAS-signed documents would be treated as having the same legal effect as signed and notarised documents under the Electronic Commerce Act, subject to any legal requirement for physical notarisation, and hard-copy submission would not be required. The SEC proposes making VERITAS optional during an initial implementation phase, while reserving the ability to mandate its use for specific filings or entities later. Comments on the draft are being accepted until October 31.
Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission 2025-10-24
Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission consults on VERITAS blockchain-based digital signing and authentication for corporate filings
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has released a draft memorandum for public comment, proposing the SEC Verification of Electronic Records and Information Trust and Authentication System (VERITAS), a blockchain-based platform for digitally signing and authenticating corporate reports. VERITAS will integrate with existing SEC systems, offering enhanced security through encryption and multi-factor authentication, and will initially be optional, with potential future mandates for specific filings.