More companies apply as virtual currency transaction conduits

MANILA -- More companies are interested to be part of the virtual currency (VC) transactions in the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said.

To date, the central bank has approved the operations of two companies that have applied to be able to transact VCs. These companies are considered as remittance and transfer companies (RTCs).

“Several more are under evaluation,” Espenilla said in his speech during the Security Bank economic forum 2017 in Makati City Tuesday.

VCs were introduced around 2009 and most famous among these is the Bitcoin, which remain unregulated since no central bank has ever issued it.

It is not backed by any commodity such as gold and silver unlike existing legal tenders and coins.

The BSP’s regulations on VC usage “is essentially aligned with the June 2015 Financial Action Task Force Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to VCs.”

BSP Circular No. 944 Series of 2017 estates that the central bank “does not intend to endorse any VC, such as Bitcoin, as a currency since it is neither issued or guaranteed by a central bank nor backed by any commodity.”

In an interview, the central bank chief said applicants for VC transactions are considered as money changers because the transactions they would conduct are very simple.

“What they are allowed to do is to exchange a crypto currency into peso equivalent. (It’s) Just moving from normal money to cryptocurrency,” he added. (PNA)