Government of the Philippines approves two new crypto exchanges

According to reports, the Central Bank of the Philippines has approved two new exchanges of cryptocurrencies, bringing the total number of encrypted exchanges accredited in the country to five. Meanwhile, encrypted transactions have been growing in the country.

According to reports, the Central Bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), credited two new cryptographic exchanges, Business World reported Friday, according to a senior official. Lt. Gov. Chuchi G. Fonacier told reporters:

"The regulator has approved applications submitted by Virtual Currency Philippines Inc. and Etranss as platforms to convert pesos into virtual currencies (VC) such as bitcoin and ethereum."

The first approved exchange was Betur Inc, also known as Coins.ph, which was approved in September of last year. A month later, Rebittance Inc. was approved. Then, in May of this year, Bloom Solutions was approved as the third cryptographic exchange operator in the country, explained Philstar.

Encryption transactions have been increasing in the Philippines. Last week, Fonacier revealed that, in the first quarter of this year, $ 24.16 million were converted from crypto to peso, while $ 36.74 million converted from peso to cryptocurrencies, the news agency reported. Similarly, $ 24.79 million converted from crypto to weight and $ 38.27 million to crypto in the fourth quarter of last year.

The country's Anti-Money Laundering Council also said it will begin to analyze the crypto transactions "as part of its strict surveillance against dirty money," Business World said.

The Central Bank has previously proposed that encryption exchanges should "secure separate licenses to operate as electronic money issuers." He has been studying whether exchanges "need to subscribe as electronic money issuers because they keep electronic wallets for customers." However, the publication reported that Fonacier described Friday that "internal consultations showed that it may not be advisable, in an attempt to keep the registration process simple for these new players." He explained:

"Now, we are perfecting the rules. If your business model has a portion that makes use of the electronic wallet, then there is an additional requirement, but not necessarily or automatically, an electronic money license. "

The exchanges of ciphers that subscribe as electronic money issuers must have a minimum capital of 100 million pesos (~ 1,872,291 dollars), added the publication, noting that "the existing BSP rules also impose 100,000 as the aggregate charge limit for electronic money instruments per month. "

Last week, the government-owned Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) announced that it was drafting regulations for cryptocurrencies and planning to grant licenses to 25 cryptographic companies.