The Philippines is considering allowing the operations of crypto-exchanges as a part of its new cryptocurrency regulation. This development comes in the wake of rising popularity of cryptocurrencies in the whole South Pacific region.

New Cryptocurrency Regulations are coming next week

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Philippines is at the forefront of drafting these new cryptocurrency regulations with Australian and Swiss crypto-exchange rules being reviewed as the guiding templates. Ephyrp Luis Amatong, SEC Commissioner, told reporters that their agency is planning to release these new rules by the end of next week.

In this regard, SEC has initiated its collaboration with the central bank of Philippines called the “Banglo Sentral ng Pilipinas” (BSP). Amatong elaborated, “There is a dire need to regulate crypto-exchanges as trading platforms. Joining hands with BSP is mutually beneficial as they are also interested in regulating crypto exchanges and joint-efforts can bring better results.”

The need for having ICO regulations in place

Last month, SEC proposed initial coin offerings (ICOs) rules, according to which anyone planning to launch an ICO must file a request for preliminary assessment providing details of the offering. Afterward SEC would make the decision of allowing the ICO or not, based on the details submitted to the agency. Entities deliberating to launch ICOs must have to register themselves as a corporation while issuers with their main offices in foreign countries will have to establish their office branch in the Philippines. Moreover, these rules deal with several other ingredients of ICOs like the publicity campaigns, reporting & documentation and rate of returns for the investors etc.

Amatong explained the need for allowing such crowdfunding schemes, “ICOs are mostly launched by cryptocurrency startups and are highly effective in tapping individual contributions through online platforms, greatly helping small and medium-sized enterprises. Previously, one had to go through the PSE (Philippine Stock Exchange) or PDE (Philippine Dealing Exchange) to generate funding. However, FinTech is changing things by allowing such fund-raising at much lower costs.”

If you didn’t know, you should now…Crypto is Coming.

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