With cryptocurrency adoption on the rise in Philippines, the country’s central bank is searching for measures to better protect investors through increasing local cryptocurrency awareness, as stated by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines Central Bank, aims to promote education as the authority is able to see benefits related to cryptocurrency and blockchain. “The BSP’s focus is on virtual assets’ capacity to improve the delivery of financial services, particularly payments and remittances services, as it has potential to provide faster and economical transfer of funds, both for domestic and international setting,” the BSP stated.
Information from Cointelegraph mentioned that according to BSP, cryptocurrency adoption in Philippines has increased over the last couple of years on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes in the Philippines hitting new highs on some peer-to-peer exchanges in July, 2021. In response to the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies, the Philippine central bank is expected to not have any plans to adopt any significant limits on cryptocurrency investments or trading, currently. Instead, the BSP is planning to adopt a regulatory framework. Despite everything, BSP still holds a negative outlook towards using cryptocurrency as a payment method. According to the BSP, cryptocurrencies cannot serve as a means of payment due to risks such as high volatility and a high potential for unlawful use or theft due to increased anonymity. The BSP also mentioned that the regulator considers cryptocurrencies as virtual assets instead of a currency. The central bank even issued guidelines for virtual asset service providers as part of circular number 1108 in January, 2021.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that BSP still sees opportunities to utilise the blockchain space for increasing the security and efficiency of financial services in the Philippines, with the central bank also exploring the possibility of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
Also read: How can interest be earned through cryptocurrency savings accounts
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