The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, is doubtful to launch its own digital currency and will continue to closely monitor digital currencies.
A June 5 report by the local news agency Phillstar Global detailed that Benjamin Diokno, the governor of the bank, took the decision after attending a meeting with his international counterparts at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland late last month.
Diokno also detailed that the central bank will monitor Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies as they can be used in illegal activities like terror financing. In addition, the volatile nature of digital currencies also made the bank skeptic for their real-world use.
“We have to be open to innovation except that we also have a responsibility to [the] consumer. Let’s give it another three to five years,” Diokno said.
He also touched the much-talked crypto initiative of Facebook and said that central banks around the world are divided on the upcoming digital currency of the social media giant, which is targeting to reshape the lucrative remittance market.
BREAKING: US lawmakers have formally called on #Facebook to stop all development of its Libra currency.
Remember, you can’t send a letter to Bitcoin, asking it to stop.#Bitcoin is the answer. — The Moon (@themooncarl) July 3, 2019
The technology risk and innovation supervision department of BSP previously reported that the transaction volume relating to digital currencies almost doubled to $390.37 million last year from $189.18 million in 2017.
Paving way for the crypto economy
Earlier, the central bank also released a regulatory framework to oversee the market activities relating to virtual currencies. The circular also made it mandatory for any Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ) in the local market to take permission from the financial regulator.
Last week, the BSP approved 11 cryptocurrency exchanges to operate in the country. Another 37 exchanges received approval from the Economic Zone Authority Cagayan (CEZA), a government-recognized body working as a sandbox for innovative technologies.
