A TOP cryptocurrency leader sees the potential of Cebu having a growing number of crypto investors.
Kenneth Stern, general manager for the Philippines of Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange platform, was in Cebu last week to meet the crypto community here.
Stern believes there’s a growing interest among Cebuano investors to explore the opportunities in crypto trading.
“Binance is seeing lots of activity in Cebu, and it’s starting to establish itself as a city with many strong founders in the crpyto space,” Stern said.
Binance also seeks to enable Cebu’s efforts to become a leading technology hub in the country through exploring collaborations with the local government here.
He said part of their goal is to support both government and local communities in Cebu in getting better access to financial services.
Binance is actively looking to support charities and non-government organizations whose focus is aligned with financial inclusion push.
Stern said the crypto industry can greatly benefit the Filipino people by addressing the necessity of financial inclusion through digitalization, allowing Filipino users access to digital wallets and offering digital finance solutions.
Digital wallets create a gateway into digital assets, and cryptocurrency furthering the freedom of money will allow more Filipinos an opportunity to experience world-class financial products.
Unregulated
Cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency registered in a digital database called a blockchain. These digital assets are not issued by central banks, thus carry with them all the risk and rewards of an unregulated currency.
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that users store or hold in a digital wallet, either on their own or via exchanges such as Binance. These assets can be accessed anytime and anywhere — as long as the user has an internet connection.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), that has been issuing licenses to crypto exchange platforms operating in the Philippines, wants digital payments to make up 50 percent of all transactions both in volume and value by 2023 under its financial inclusion roadmap.
The central bank also wants the country to become a cashless society by 2025.
BSP data showed that the volume of cryptocurrency transactions grew 362 percent year on year to nearly 20 million in the first half of 2021.
These transactions were worth P105.93 billion, data showed. The local demand for crypto is also rising with a study by Finder Crypto reporting that the Philippines ranks fifth worldwide in terms of ownership, with 28 percent of adults saying they own cryptocurrency.
THE Commission on Elections-Central Visayas (Comelec 7) has reminded the public, particularly the unregistered Filipinos 15 years old and above, to visit the nearest Comelec office or satellite offices before the voter’s registration ends this month.Comelec 7 Acting Director Lionel Marco Castillano said the agency is still accepting applications for new voters’ registration, transfer of polling precinct to another precinct, correction of entries, and reactivation of voter’s registration.The vote
Now in its 10th year, SunStar’s Best of Cebu is back with a vengeance.Local businesses are slowly returning to form, allowing the Best of Cebu team to add more categories under lifestyle and travel, beauty and wellness and shopping.From 78 awardees in 2021, SunStar’s Best of Cebu lists 118 winners for 2022.From Jan. 23 to 29, SunStar’s Best of Cebu 2022 winners will be featured in the Lifestyle section of SunStar Cebu.These winners went through a stringent selection and judging process conducted
Market vendors are doing what they can to salvage the onions they have left as high market prices continue to discourage consumers from purchasing in bulk.
National University standout John Martin Galinato coolly sank two free-throws with 1.1 seconds remaining to give the EGS Aneda Builders a heart-pounding 81-80 win to capture the championship in the Chooks-to-Go Sinulog Cup on Monday night at the Cebu Coliseum.K&L Marketing had the inside track on winning the title as they led, 80-77, after a booming triple by veteran point guard, Harold Cortes, with 43.7 seconds remaining.However, EGS kept their hopes alive after Galinato was fouled by Eloy Poli
LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan has remained proud of the City Government’s contingent even if it did not secure a win during the 50th Sinulog sa Carmen on Sunday, January 22, 2023.Chan expressed his gratitude toward the Tribu Mapasigarbohong Oponganon, which is composed of around 450 individuals, including dancers, props men and instrumentalists, among others.“Nagpabilin kaming proud sa inyung nakab-ot kay sayod kami nga inyung gihatag ang tanan ug kinasingkasing ang inyung pag-perform
KENNETH Llover proved that he was the better fighter last Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, after a convincing unanimous decision win over Benny Cañete in the main event of Manny Pacquiao’s “Blow by Blow” at the Mandaluyong City College in Mandaluyong City.Cañete wanted to bully Llover but instead the latter outclassed him in 10 rounds of action.Llover got the nod of all three judges with scores of 96-94, 98-92 and 96-94.The 29-year-old Llover successfully retained his Philippines Boxing Federation banta
The EGS Aneda Builders and the K&L Marketing put down their respective foes in the semifinals on Sunday evening to set up a championship showdown in the Chooks-to-Go Sinulog Cup 2023.The finals will tip off following the game for third-place honors, which tips off at 5 p.m.K&L Marketing overcame an undermanned DH25-RUS squad, 82-78, while EGS toppled UNBL, 71-69.K&L leaned on the game-long brilliance of their two cagey veterans, Patrick Cabahug and Will McAloney, to get them past the squad of PB
MAYOR'S 'THREAT.' When Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama last week "declared war" on the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) after it deployed 24 security guards at the Maritima Ruins, many people assumed he meant a war in the courts, where the City lost in the first round. The City claims the lot and building as its own. CPA says they belong to the port authority.On Monday, January 23, 2023, at the flag ceremony in front of City Hall, the mayor said something about his "war" on CPA, which tells us more about how
MORE than a kilo of suspected shabu worth P7,174,000 were confiscated from a former inmate during the anti-illegal drug operation conducted by the operatives of Sawang-Calero Police Station 6 in Sitio Mahayahay 2, Barangay Pasil, Cebu City at 8:55 p.m. on Monday, January 23, 2023.Police identified the suspect as Vincent Rodriguez alias Jayvee, 21, an e-bike driver from Belgium Street, Barangay Suba.It was learned that Rodriguez was just released from prison when he went back to his illegal drug
A LOTTO outlet teller yielded around 65 grams of suspected shabu worth almost half a million pesos during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Lourdes, Panglao town, Bohol past 6 p.m. on Monday, January 23, 2023.The anti-illegal drug operation, which led to the arrest of lotto outlet teller Noli Clet alias Ondoy, 32, jointly conducted by the operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Bohol Provincial Office, Regional Police Drug Enforcement and Panglao Police Station.Seized from the suspec
CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama will take a week of "respite" starting Tuesday, January 24, 2023, putting Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia as acting mayor.In a press conference Monday, January 23, Rama said their family vacation was supposed to take place in the last week of December 2022 but it was canceled due to the City Government's preparation for the Sinulog Festival.Rama will be officially on leave for four days starting Tuesday but will only be back in the city on Sunday, January 29.Accordin
A FARMER was discovered dead in the mountain barangay of Bato in the southern town of Sibonga, Cebu early Monday morning, January 23, 2023.The victim was identified as 51-year-old Elmer Fiel Redillo, a resident of Purok Tambis in the same barangay.He had hack wounds in the neck and chest.According to Senior Master Sergeant Michelle Ponce, investigator at the Sibonga Police Station, Redillo was last seen harassing people around 10 p.m. on Sunday, January 22. He was very drunk.Santos Maravillas, a
MORE than a kilo of substance believed to be shabu worth P7,174,000 was confiscated from an ex-convict during the anti-illegal drug operation conducted by operatives of Sawang-Calero Police Station 6 in Sitio Mahayahay 2, Barangay Pasil, Cebu City at 8:55 p.m. Monday, January 23, 2023.Police identified the suspect as Vincent Rodriguez alias Jayvee, 21, an e-bike driver from Belgium Street, Barangay Suba.It was learned that Rodriguez was just released from prison when he went back to his illegal
“You only have one body and you should be proud of it,” content creator AFAM Hunter wrote as she posted photos of herself in a swimsuit at the beach.
POLICE arrested a high-value individual during a drug bust in Sitio Japer, Barangay Quiot, Cebu City at 2:10 a.m. Monday, January 23, 2023.They identified the suspect as 49-year-old Jaime Copreros Caligner, a resident of Hills View, Barangay Tisa in the same city.They seized several sachets of shabu weighing 210 grams with a standard drug price of P1,428,000 from him.According to Major Janelito Marquez, chief of the Labangon Police Station, they have been monitoring Caligner for quite some time
THE Monetary Board decided to adjust the ceilings on credit card transactions by increasing the maximum interest rate or finance charge imposed on a cardholder’s unpaid outstanding credit card balance by 100 basis points (bps) or from two percent to three percent per month.Meanwhile, the existing ceiling on the monthly add-on rate that credit card issuers can charge on installment loans is maintained at a maximum rate of one percent. Similarly, the maximum processing fee on the availment of cred
ONLINE job platform JobStreet by SEEK revealed the list of top 10 roles, specializations and industries that are in demand and hiring this year.Based on the firm’s latest database, the top 10 specializations are customer service, finance/cost accounting, information technology/customer-software, clerical/administrative support, human resources, marketing/business development, education, sales-retail/general, banking/financial services and sales-corporate.Additionally, the top 10 in-demand roles
The Sinulog in Carmen, northern Cebu is not as popular as Cebu City’s Sinulog, which was held at the South Road Properties (SRP) on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023.A few days before Cebu City’s Sinulog was staged at the rushed SRP venue, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia decided to pull out 10 contingents from the province citing several concerns, one of which was the welfare of the dancers who are mostly teenagers.Twenty-two competing contingents and one guest contingent joined the Sinulog sa Carmen on Sunday, Jan.
TOLEDO City and Carcar City bested other contigents after winning the Free Interpretation and Sinulog-Based categories respectively under the open category in the 50th Sinulog sa Carmen on Sunday, January 22, 2023 in Carmen town, northern Cebu.A total of 15 contingents competed in the open category, seven of which were under the sinulog-based while eight are in free interpretation.Meanwhile, Tribu San Roque won in the local category among the seven Carmen-based contingents.Here is the list of wi
THE construction of the P24.8-billion Lapu-Lapu Expressway (LLEX), also known as the skyway project, is expected to begin in March this year.This was what Lapu-Lapu City Vice Mayor Celedonio “Celsi” Sitoy told SunStar Cebu on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023.Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan, for his part, said they are currently in negotiation with the residents that will be affected by the alignment of the skyway.“We will try our best that not many residents will be affected by the alignment,” Chan said.LLEX wil
