Two Crypto Exchanges Receive Regulatory Approval In The Philippines

The number of crypto-friendly countries is increasing daily as more nations seek to benefit from the capabilities of cryptocurrency. Regulators across the world are trying to ensure that they create crypto-friendly environments in their jurisdictions.

The Philippines is one of the countries that have created a crypto-friendly financial environment. The country’s policies allow crypto related businesses to conduct their business without much restriction, and this attracts a lot of crypto related companies to the country.

VCEs Permitted

Two companies have received permission from the Philippines’ central bank to run virtual currency exchanges (VCEs).

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is the central bank of the Philippines, and the central bankers have been issued out crypto related licenses to two businesses.

Telcoin Corp, a Tokyo based firm and Atomtrans Tech Corp. International have been approved by the BSP. Telcoin engages in business with mobile service providers. The company has built an Ethereum based blockchain system of its own.

Atomtrans is a financial service provider which is based in Manila, and they are a holder of a license issued by the BSP. They already provide ATC Payment and ATC Remittance systems.

Now, Atomtrans has expanded the scope of its business into the crypto field. The firm now offers its clients the ATC Digital Currency Exchange.

Growing number of VCE approved firms

The number of crypto related businesses with approval to conduct VCEs has increased to 13 after the authorization granted to Telcoin and Atomtrans.

The other firms with the endorsement are Bloomsolutions Inc., Fyntegrate Inc., Coinville Phils Inc., Bitan Moneytech Co. Ltd, Rebittance Inc., Zybi Tech., Betur Inc. dba Coins.ph, Etranss Remittance International Corp., Bexpress Inc., Aba Global Philippines, and Virtual Currency Philippines Inc.

It is believed that there are many other crypto related businesses that are in the process of registering for VCEs. The friendly crypto policies in the Philippines are attractive to these businesses, and many firms want a piece of the pie.

Luis Buenaventura, founder, and chief strategy officer at Bloomsolutions said that an estimated 2 million people in the Philippines have been exposed to crypto assets in one form or another.

People in the country are able to engage as a Bitcoin traderr or trade in other crypto assets of their choice. He also said that there is a large chunk of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese citizens in the country, and this has influenced the growth of financial technology through cross-pollination of ideas.

Banks engage in cryptocurrency

The crypto-friendly nature of the Philippines can also be seen through the recent blockchain project developed by the Union Bank of the Philippines. The bank launched a cryptocurrency called the PHX, and it will be used to bring rural banks into the loop through the bank’s blockchain platforms.

Pegged to the Philippine Peso, PHX has already been used on UnionBank’s i2i blockchain.

This project by Union Bank will increase help people in the rural Philippines to engage in crypto trading with local and international institutions.