Philippines to consider Bitcoin as security

Tuesday 21st of November 2017

The Philippines is considering legalizing Bitcoin and other digital assets as securities to be regulated under existing security laws.

According to cryptocurrency news outlets, Commissioner Emilio Aquino of the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the direction was to “consider this so-called virtual currencies offerings as possible securities in which case we will apply the Securities Regulation Code.”

It is understood that the recent play by Calata Corp to list on a bitcoin exchange with an initial coin offering of ‘Calcoins’ got the attention of the SEC.

Regarding the ICO, Commissioner Aquino continued, “This initial coin offering — depending on, as said, the facts and circumstances in which the offering is made especially in raising capital — may be considered as securities, in which case they cannot just be offered without registering with SEC.”

“We have seen particularly in the social media sites that there are offers of initial coin offerings, most popular of which, of course [are] bitcoins and ethereum… but [there are] new ones which may be considered as securities,” the Commissioner added.

“That’s the direction we’re taking, basing on the present regulations passed by the US SEC, our other counterparts in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand.”

Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Security