

The Philippine Digital Asset Exchange, also known as PDAX, is the newest recipient of the Virtual Currency Exchange license given by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

PDAX Receives Virtual Currency License in the Philippines

Having the license also means the company was able to comply with the guidelines set by the BSP Circular no. 944. It required the company to register to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), have adequate risk management and security control systems, adhere to the BSP’s transaction requirements, and completed the registration and service fees.

Primarily, the virtual currency license allows the company to engage in exchanging fiat (Philippine Peso) to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and vice versa.

CEO Nichel Gaba said in a statement that this is an exciting time for cryptocurrency traders and also for “everyone who believes that the future of investing is digital”.

“With the approval granted to us by the BSP, we hope to make financial markets more accessible to everyone.” – Mr. Nichel Gaba, PDAX CEO

Why is a Proper Digital Asset Exchange Important to Have in the Philippines

In an earlier interview, the company’s chief marketing officer, Mr. Krystian Kucharzyk, said that the country is ripe for a proper digital asset exchange. A proper digital asset exchange can help Filipinos save transaction fees as the current way to get asset classes such as altcoins is through foreign exchanges. He said that a digital exchange based in the country will let the people use fiat without the hassle of transaction fees whenever they send BTC to foreign exchanges.

Bitcoin and Locally In-Demand Altcoins

Currently, the PDAX platform is on a private beta and the cryptocurrencies on its list are bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), ripple (XRP), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC).

It will also add “locally in-demand coins” in the coming weeks as shared on its official medium blog.

The company is headed by CEO Nichel Gaba. He is the former Head of Trust at HSBC Philippines. Other key members are Chief Strategy Officer Yang Yang Zhang and Chief Marketing Officer Krystian Kucharzyk. Ms. Zhang is previously Chief Marketing Officer of BKT, a solution provider for water and energy. Mr. Kucharzyk is previously the Global Strategist at Samsung and Securities Associate at Goldman Sachs.

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its draft rules on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and will also release its draft rules on virtual currency exchanges. According to SEC Commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong, the VCE license given by the BSP is similar to a money changer (crypto to fiat) and does not include acting as a trading platform. This is why the commission wishes to coordinate with the BSP to do a “joint cooperative oversight”.

With PDAX, the total number of virtual currency licensees has increased to six. PDAX joins Coins.ph, Rebittance, BloomSolutions, ETranss, and Virtual Currency Philippines Inc. as license holders.

PDAX’ chief marketing officer Krystian Kucharzyk reconfirmed with BitPinas that their digital asset exchange is set to launch this 2018.

Read more: Philippines SEC Keen to Release Draft Rules on Virtual Currency Exchanges this September

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