Bitcoin Organization of the Philippines Hosts 1st Meetup of 2015, With Special Guests From the Central Bank of the Philippines.

Around two weeks after announcing its official formation, the Bitcoin Organization of the Philippines’ 1st meetup and assembly for 2015, with the goal of introducing the organization’s goals and objectives for 2015 and beyond.

People from the local and international Bitcoin community came and enjoyed the food and drinks, as well as the company of their fellow Bitcoiners. There were even had a few attendees who saw the meetup announcement on social media and got curious enough to actually come and join the event, even without having any idea what Bitcoin was all about.

In attendance were five special guests of the Bitcoin Organization, executives and officers in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) including the head of the Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Group.

Besides the prepared program, we also had planned an open discussion and Q&A about a specific hot topic: Bitcoin regulation in the Philippines.

After a short presentation by Miguel Cuneta and Jay Villarante, founding board members of the BOP, the discussion commenced and opened up a lively debate among the members of the community, in which our esteemed guests from the BSP observed, listened, and gave a few comments of their own.

One important thing we learned from this open discussion is that the Philippine government, or at least the Central Bank, is very open-minded about Bitcoin and digital currencies, and is willing to listen to the community and allow us to participate in the process of figuring out how to approach regulation and other related matters. They made it clear that they recognize the value of such a technology and want to approach its regulation as informed as possible.

It is very encouraging to see this kind of response from these key authorities and hopefully, the Bitcoin Organization of the Philippines will continue to be a voice for the community in the most important matters concerning Bitcoin and digital currencies in the Philippines.

Special thanks to the BSP executives who graciously accepted our invitation and stayed all the way until the end of the meetup. We hope to continue our conversation and make the right choices regarding Bitcoin regulation together.

A big thank you to everyone who attended the event and made it a big success. We’re looking forward to bigger and better events like this in the very near future.

Visit www.bitcoin.org.ph for more details about the Org.