The history of Bitcoin in The Philippines is not unlike any other country in the world. There’s the Bitcoin community, the Bitcoin exchange, and the giddy government. People in the Philippines use many different Bitcoin platforms. BuyBitcoin was launched in 2014 allowing people to buy Bitcoins by depositing cash at over 800 Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) branches. At that time the price of 1 Bitcoin was $837.04 on the Bitcoin Price Chart.
No surprises for the virtual currency communities
The media has been speculating that the Philippines was going to be one of the first Asian countries to regulate Bitcoin.
The country has one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. Its online communities are already used to the method of depositing cash for their online transactions. Its Bitcoin startups are expanding to cater the people’s interest in the virtual currency. The Satoshi Citadel Industries (CDI) recently acquired defunct Bitcoin stock trading company Keza based in Silicon Valley.
Found the first known bitcoin to USD transaction from my email backups. I sold 5,050 BTC for $5,02 on 2009-10-12. https://t.co/8XcBmzJljf
— Martti Malmi (@marttimalmi) January 15, 2014
A new regulatory framework is expected
The Philippines’ central bank BSP has already announced its plan to reissue the regulatory framework for Bitcoin users through BPS Circular No.
944, titled “Guidelines for Virtual Currency (VC) Exchanges” which read:
“The Bangko Sentral does not intend to endorse any VC, such as Bitcoin, as a currency since it is neither issued or guaranteed by a central bank nor backed by any commodity. Rather, the BSP aims to regulate VCs when used for delivery of financial services, particularly, for payments and remittances, which have a material impact on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT), consumer protection and financial stability.”
Tighter operational environment for Bitcoin startups
The new regulations mean that companies now need to obtain a Certificate of Registration (COR) to operate, accreditation of remittance sub-agents, registration with the Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat and mandatory training.
With the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) policies, the Philippines will continue to tighten its local Bitcoin exchanges and companies. The legality and clarity provided by the regulations will likely be beneficial for Bitcoin users, who are already enjoying the 24/7 cardless ATM Instant Payout.
