Philippines, other countries eye regulatory framework on crypto

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — Countries including the Philippines are looking at implementing rules to regulate cryptocurrencies in the next two years, in a bid to take preemptive measures given its increasing adoption.

According to Financial Stability Board (FSB) chairman Dr. Klaas Knot, it was tasked by the Group of 20 (G20) to look into crafting global regulations on crypto assets, which will be up for deliberation in July.

“What we are currently working on is deliver a set of high-level recommendations on the regulation of stablecoins on the one hand, and another set of high-level recommendations on global regulation of other crypto asset activities by the July G20 meeting,” he said in a press conference.

Knot said that the regulation will provide a certain level of protection for investors who want to dip their toes in cryptocurrencies, which the FSB regards as a “highly-speculated asset.”

The group is looking at being inclusive across the globe, as he said that should a jurisdiction hold out on implementing the measures, this would then see a big inflow of cryptocurrencies.

“It only works if we have a truly global approach which is not only applied in the G20 countries, but clearly all the countries in the world where we have consistent implementation,” Knot said.

“We have to think about regulatory treatment which would additionally punishing to those jurisdictions that try to play this holdout game where exposures, for instance, of the traditional financial institutions to crypto assets activities that are being originated in these jurisdictions will receive additional, let’s say, supervisory scrutiny, regulatory scrutiny, and the like,” he added.

For his part, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor and FSB co-chair Felipe Medalla said that a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies would benefit the Philippines.

The country is currently part of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list, which subjects countries to increased monitoring for “dirty money” risks.

“From my point of view, that’s the state at play, that crypto in the Philippines is not a financial stability issue because it’s not involving too many people, but it is an issue that may call for attention of the government one way or the other,” Medalla said.

Under the guidelines of the BSP, it only regulates the virtual currency exchanges or the conversion or exchange of government-issued currencies into a virtual currency.

Among the authorized virtual currency exchanges in the country are Betur or more popularly known as coins.ph, and Rebittance.

“Mukhang may mga remittance companies that will use crypto as the basis for moving money cross-border so therefore, importante maintindihan natin para ma-regulate natin properly at maprotektahan ang mga tao,” Medalla said.

(It looks like there are remittance companies that will use crypto as the basis for moving money cross-border so therefore, it is important that we understand this to regulate it properly and protect the people.)

“So hindi natin dapat hintaying kumalat na nang kumalat saka tayo gagalaw. Dapat maaga pa lang, nag-aaral na tayo at ang importante sa conference na ito, nalalaman natin ang nangyayari sa kanila at matuto tayo sa experience nila,” he added.

(We must not wait for this to spread before we act. As early as now, we should already be studying this and the good thing about this conference is we get to know the developments in other countries and learn from their experiences.)—AOL, GMA Integrated News