There are actually a number of licensed Bitcoin-related platforms in the country. I remember I used to have an account on BuyBitcoin.ph. There was another one I cannot recall anymore. Those where the good old days when Coins.ph and Abra were the main players.
Today, there are many of them. The mainstream GCash and PayMaya already integrated crypto on their platforms. Pouch and Strike are also here offering Lightning payments. There is also a new platform here which offers OTC crypto transactions. My bad, I also cannot remember the name. But they have numerous partners all over the country.
Banks are also gradually opening their doors.
Overall, it seems we're doing good.
crypto exchanges are not an indication of increased adoption in your country or in any country where there could be growth and the government opposes that growth and therefore will not allow registering a platform or opening bank accounts for it.
In a way, it is an indicator. It could mean that there is a market significant enough to be exploited, worth risking for, despite the challenges. I'm not necessarily speaking of my country, though.
The real measure and people's acceptance of bitcoin as a currency in buying and selling commodities is to consider it an acceptable financial intermediary where you can buy several things in your country without the need to convert bitcoin to cash or there is an option to pay in bitcoin.
On this basis, the growth is at least considerable. As a matter of fact, there is an ongoing effort to continue building what is named as the Bitcoin Island. It's an effort to drive the adoption of Bitcoin as a currency. So far, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin, even through the Lightning network, is growing.