Interest in Philippines Economic Zone Crypto License Spikes - 17 Firms Paid in Full

The Philippines government-owned Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) is in the process of issuing more crypto licenses. Interest for the license by offshore companies “surpassed all our expectations,” Ceza administrator said. Seventeen firms have already paid in full; 19 more are in the pipeline. Ceza expects to earn about $68 million from crypto licensing.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

17 Companies Paid in Full

Ceza previously announced that it will issue 25 Financial Technology Solutions and Offshore Virtual Currency (Ftsovc) licenses. The permits allow licensees “to establish a financial tech, crypto, and blockchain office” at the zone, Bitpinas news outlet described.

According to the Philippines News Agency, Ceza administrator and chief executive officer Raul Lambino revealed last week:

17 fintech and offshore virtual currency firms have already paid in full the application and license fees for the digital coin trading under Ceza … 19 companies are in the pipeline to pay their application and license fees to Ceza.

Last week, Ceza awarded a license to Liannet Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of the Apsaras Group. It was the second license Ceza has issued; the first went to Hong Kong company Golden Millennial Quickplay Inc. in June.

The Philippines Daily Inquirer cited Lambino, revealing:

Other firms that had already paid fees to operate in Ceza were Formosa Financial Holdings, Sino-Phil Economic Zone Agency Development and Management Corp., Asia-Pacific International Ltd., Hong Kong Yuen Shing-Hong Ltd., Tanzer Inc. and Rare Earth.

Boosting Revenues with Crypto License Fees

Lambino said in a press statement Friday that the income from Ftsovc application and license fees “exceeded 2017 revenue by more than 50 percent,” the news outlet detailed. The interest expressed by offshore companies to operate in Ceza “surpassed all our expectations,” he added, noting that fintech operations are expected to create an initial 20,000 jobs.

Ceza “has earned more than P200 million [~$3.7 million] from offshore financial technology firms to raise its total revenues to at least P340 million [~$6.4 million] by the end of the second quarter of the year,” the publication described, elaborating:

Ceza expects to earn some PHP3.6 billion (~US$68 million) from the issuance of Ftsovc licenses, on top of the 0.1 percent share for every transaction value of registered digital coin exchanges.

Recently, there have also been reports that Ceza is launching its own cryptocurrency. However, Ceza staff told Bitpinas last week that this is not the case.

What do you think of all these crypto firms wanting to operate in Ceza? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Ceza.

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