Philippine Stock Exchange Ambitious To Be The First Domestic Crypto Trading Platform

Philippine Stock Exchange wants to be the first domestic crypto trading provider (CoinDesk)

JAKARTA – After the Philippine financial regulator gave a signal for cryptocurrency trading, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has ambitions to become the first crypto exchange platform in the country.

Ramon Monzon as CEO of PSE emphasized that the local exchange should be the first crypto trading platform in the Philippines. Ramon insisted that PSE should be the first crypto exchange in the country.

“If there has to be an exchange for crypto, it has to be on the PSE. Why? First, because we have a trading infrastructure. But more importantly, we can guarantee investor protection, especially (related) to products such as crypto," Ramon said as quoted by CNN.

Currently, PSE is waiting for the policy of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission and a number of other financial regulators. Despite the ambition to become the first crypto exchange, Ramon Monzon warns of very high crypto volatility

"Instant wealth can become instant poverty as well," he said.

The Philippine government has been reviewing cryptocurrency trading regulations since 2019. At that time, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission questioned whether the country was ready to set up a full-fledged crypto exchange.

On the other hand, the use of domestic digital payments is getting stronger. It is recorded that 10% of GDP comes from remittances made by 10 million Filipino expatriates working overseas.

In recent years, the Philippines has sought to establish itself as a regional crypto hub. In 2018, the country has opened a Special Economic Zone located in Cagayan which is intended for a number of crypto companies.

After witnessing the rapid growth of digital asset users in the last three years, in January 2021 the Philippine central bank decided to issue new regulations for cryptocurrency service providers as compiled from Cointelegraph.