Bitcoin Forum

Bankgko Sentral ng Pilipinas, hereinafter BSP, is officially regulating local Philippine Bitcoin exchanges as remittance companies and recognizing Bitcoin as a legitimate payment method.

Earlier this month, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla announced the plans of the Philippine Central Bank to issue a proper regulatory framework for Bitcoin users, exchanges and companies. Espenilla emphasized the exponential growth of Bitcoin within the country, stating that monthly Bitcoin volumes increased from $1 mln to $6 mln a month in a year.

Is there a reliable source for your statement? Because I've heard the Philippines already banned bitcoin from their environment. This looks strange if the government is changing the direction for bitcoin to be the payment method in there. Looks they can't do anything with bitcoin rather accept the bitcoin to be the payment method.  ;D

I think this is not a new development as they have already considered bitcoin as a payment method back in February , as there are many people using crypto currency within the country and it will be a positive thing for the community.Is there any news coming out from Philippines regarding bitcoin,if so i would like to know more about it.

I'm not sure the legitimacy of this news since I haven't heard or read it from our local news as i residing as well in the Philippines but if does really exist if the BSP already recognizing btc as a payment method it will bring more attention and more popularity all over the land and Philippines will be added to the list of those countries who already embracing the system.

aren't other country already regulating it? control bitcoin maybe not, but when you legalize bitcoin and make it a part of your monetary system like in japan, you are regulating it for me

It is true that  Philippine government has been studying this bitcoin regulation as they have seen this an opportunity. As of a matter of fact, there are lots of bitcoin holders were from Philippines, and they have their own local exchange where you can easily convert your money to bitcoin and vice versa.

Here's the link bro, https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-philippines-officially-legitimize-bitcoin-as-payment-method. Actually they've changed  their mind and now start accepting bitcoin.

nope you are wrong, bitcoin is legal in Philippines besides they only issued a warning against virtual currencies like bitcoin in 2014 that they aren't endorsing any virtual currecies. stating that,

but in february 2017 according to the article i read a few months ago, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas BSP for short, issued a rules and regulations in bitcoin exchanges in Philippines.

so, next time do your own research first before posting you comment here  ::)

Is there any spurces?? I would teally want to see them myself, coz knowing my fellow filipinos, they probably would never accept bitcoin, probably because filipinos mindsets are locked into the thought that being sure is better than sorry. This is due to the hardship of earning money here. And so, if this is the case, the banks here wouldnt see potential, and that will result in making them hesitate with bitcoins.

It is already legalize.As I have read the wikipedia it was already legalize like 3 years ago.And it was already regulated in Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Bitcoin is already legalize here thats why we have some apps that convers bitcoin into our currency.

I'm also residing in the Philippines and yes, I also don't see any news about it on the T.V. but I've read an article about this one on Facebook saying that our country really legitimizes bitcoin as a payment method. If our government finalizes their development of guidelines to bitcoin, I'm pretty sure that we'll hear many news about it on the television. Here is the link from where I read it from : https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-philippines-officially-legitimize-bitcoin-as-payment-method

Yes, I saw something on Facebook about this. I think the Japanese government really opened up a can of worms when they decided to embrace Bitcoin.

The rest of the world can see that Bitcoin has some real world advantages over Fiat, but they have difficulty regulating it. Money has to adapt to the

speed of the global economic needs and the internet has created a global village. We cannot rely on legacy financial systems to take us into the future.

Decentralized networks are much better than centralized networks, and Bitcoin is the strongest decentralized network out there.  ;D

honestly, I already saw this on some article from a certain website last night and the said article was made last February this year, and from what I can see in your thread it is clear that it is completely copied and pasted ;D well, anyway I am not criticizing you but I'll suggest you that next time if ever you are going to post some thing that is copied from somewhere try to put some of your own thoughts so that it doesn't appear to be like imitated otherwise put the source from where you've got the certain information .

however, It's really great and I'm glad that the Philippine Government Finally Recognized bitcoin and made it a legitimate payment method I am excited on whatever is going to happen in the near future since it is already Legitimized by the Government I hope that businesses will also recognize its potential .

This is old news already. It was out even before the Japanese legalized bitcoin in their country.
This is the news article in one of the newspaper in the philippines.
http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/01/30/1667297/bsp-regulates-bitcoin-usage (http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/01/30/1667297/bsp-regulates-bitcoin-usage)

if its true, that's a great news but they would be ready too, the government already knows bitcoin, i think they would give a law or create a law regarding this , they would put taxes and I think they would manipulate it. they would limit the citizen in order for them to get it too. the demand of bitcoin will increase and the supply i think will decrease.

On the contrary, Philippines did not banned bitcoin, it just put a regulation on it specially on how it operates in the country. Philippines has been a bitcoin friendly country.

"[T]he Bangko Sentral recognizes that virtual currency (VC) systems have the potential to revolutionize delivery of financial services, particularly for payments and remittance, in view of their ability to provide faster and more economical transfer of funds, both domestic and international, and may further support financial inclusion,” stated the circular."

This is already backed in February then. And I don't think the BSP has released a new circular.

No the Philippines government did not banned bitcoin in our country. We have some agencies and markets or stores here that accepts BTC as a form of payment like 7\11 convenience store. Some are offering that BTC will be the mode of payment in electric and water consumption and other government sub contractors.

I think this is worth a read : http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/01/30/1667297/bsp-regulates-bitcoin-usage

The Philippines have ISIS attacking one of their islands. Is this true? If it is then the spread of Bitcoin use in that country could also prove to be problematic because there were stories that ISIS also use Bitcoin to transfer value anonymously. It would not be too impossible to think that what is funding ISIS in the Philippines is Bitcoin.

Is it wise to promote Bitcoin now in that country?

im glad our country finally accept bitcoin like japan but i dont think alot of people will gonna use it since its not popular in the Philippines i think it would become popular in our country if it hits tv news

It may not be that wise right now for the Philippines to legalize BTC but if they start monitoring their local exchanges then they can surely find the source of funding for ISIS. We say that BTC is anonymous but when it comes to local exchanges and converting to fiat, it is pseudo-anonymous.
All in all its a great thing for everyone in the BTC community.

BTC is legal to use in the Philippines, but it is not legal tender yet like in Japan.

However, the Philippines has a wildly successful bitcoin exchange called Coins.PH and you can use it to pay directly with btc for phone bills, utility bills, and send money to your friends or convert to fiat and withdraw from the ATM, without even needing an ATM card but just two pin codes they send you through SMS.

I was surprised that he said BSP has banned Bitcoin somehow which turns out as not true. I don't where he heard that kind of news or just a made up one? If somehow Bitcoin was banned in the Philippines then surely I will see news in the TV, social media, and my co-Bitcoin enthusiasts. I even see articles earlier this year in the page of mBTC.ph way back February also:

https://scontent.fmnl9-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/16711666_750198061809890_3600352384401752774_n.png?oh=b1d369c8b1cfa45397b0496b3eb03bfd&oe=599CA220

Seems like he needs to do his homework.

No offense to you Philipinos but I do not think your government is ready to regulate Bitcoin. Your country still is having difficulty in controlling all the money laundering. There was news that the ISIS rebels over there have millions in cash and checks found in one house owned by ISIS. How did it get there and who is giving them financial support?

Is there a country that have complete control over money laundering?

The house is "controlled" by the rebels called Maute group. House is not owned by ISIS.
Source: http://www.rappler.com/nation/172099-marines-recover-millions-maute-marawi

Going back to the topic, it's good that BSP opened its doors to Bitcoin. It will take time before people in Philippines starts to completely trust Bitcoin. Even before the BSP circular, there are online shops that caters residents in the Philippines that accepts Bitcoins such as CashCashpinoy(dot)com.

I'm glad that banko sentral officially legitimized bitcoin as payment method and for those who don't believe this, it is actually real because if it isnt, they would sue satoshi citadel industries and coins.ph, which are big companies related to bitcoin here in Philippines. It is quite good though that Philippines legalized bitcoin as payment method but right now I still don't feel it, because there aren't many stores that accept bitcoin here but maybe in the future there will be more.

I have seen more users from Philippines in our forum. Already they were one among the Asian countries where bitcoin has gained more popularity even before legalizing. Now this could be a good news for the entire country, now even the people who hear it for the first time will try to use it without any fear. Regularly different governments are making path for the growth of bitcoin.

No. But it would sure make it easier for the ISIS rebels to move value in and out of the country anonymously. That could be problematic. If the government finds out that Bitcoin is being used, what do you think will your government do then?


So the rebels are not affiliated with ISIS?

Some Google Philippines Search Analytics

https://i.imgur.com/SeljKYr.png

Searches for 'Bitcoin' has been at it's peak in the past couple of weeks

https://i.imgur.com/EVtvI5O.png

https://i.imgur.com/foqRVJf.png

Popular search terms in the Philippines related to Bitcoin.

i don't know the economy situation, but if philippines is a not a rich country on average the citizen there will have hard time acquiring bitcoin on a large scale, to use it afterward

bitcoin need two things to be used in mass by a country, regulation and money, if there is not enough money regulation is pointless, and now with the current value will be hard for them to buy many bitcoin

i guess will remain a niche thing, after all bitcoin is limited, and the more country join the party, the less bitcoin each one will have

Till now, it has never been proven that the ISIS is using Bitcoins to promote their terrorist activities. Apart from one sympathizer arrested in the state of Virginia in the United States, none of the ISIS members have been known to use Bitcoins. They seems to be having other routes to transfer their funding.

Lovely. A Government that respect and cares for its own people. More need to support this. Everything should have alternative. Being Anti progress is very unnatural and will always keep failing.

They are not ISIS, please stop comparing ISIS from Syria, from the so called terrorist, ISIS wannabee or whatever your called it. Please study first the history of Philippines specially in the South (Mindanao). And stop portraying that the Philippines has been curb by terrorist (ISIS). We don't even have refugees here coming from the war torn Syria. They are isolated in the Southern part. You keep you bringing the ISIS thingy here. The money that is found has nothing to do with bitcoin as well. It was withdrawn from several banks in Mindanao from 2014-2016.

The Philippines has already regulated the used of bitcoin here. We have our local exchangers coins.ph that already complied about the government regulations. So I think you can considered us bitcoin friendly nation. You can even bought bitcoin here in a kiosk from 7-11 store and put it in your coins.ph account.

That is big news

In my thoughts legalizing bitcoin is good to hear but regulating it is a different story. There might be some disadvantages in regulating it, anonymity will be void and accounts and transactions will be more exposed. Its like taking control of the machine.

This is really a great thing for us in the Philippines to legitimize bitcoin. We can pay any bills immediately without breaking a sweat on going to a Bayad Center. This news makes bitcoin not going to die within years. At first I can't believe at this but now there is a person on this forum made a thread on this certain matter. It'll help especially for the elders. If they were the only person in a house. They just need some knowledge on how to pay from us and boom they don't need to go into a bank.

This is true somehow. If a government would decide to regulate it then they will surely ask for the users in the local exchanges and transactions made. Though the advantage is having a more better environment for bitcoin in the country so that frauds and money launderers would be put to jail and they can't freely victim anyone.

This is just amazing news look at their volumes that indicates the exponential growth of Bitcoins. This we all knew and finally it's good to see that we are going to see another country using it. This is what the community needed and it's important for us that they continue to grow. With this news now I am sure Bitcoin can in coming months go to 3300 - 3500$ very soon.

They might be affiliated with ISIS but that doesn't mean they own the house that they "controlled", the Maute group controlled several establishments in  Marawi including a prison cell and business establishments. In the website of ISIS they do confirm that its their work but take note that ISIS has been claiming several attacks in different countries and places including the Resort World Manila crisis where a lone gun man who is debt ridden burned casino tables and ISIS claimed that its theirs. Don't be surprised if ISIS will claim that they are the one who assassinated JFK.

I heard that Bitcoin is being used through Coins.ph in the Marawi crisis but not by the Maute group, it's being used by scammers who claim that they are part of GMA Kapuso Foundation and they are accepting donations to help the Marawi evacuees because they need food. With this kind of news its not good news to the Bitcoin community in the Philippines because its being used to scam people. GMA Kapuso Foundation denied that they are accepting Bitcoins donation through Coins.ph

There are no reports that it is through bitcoin, those funds are still not yet confirmed on who is financier of those rebels. I don't think that is connected to bitcoin or any crypto/virtual currency. I'm thinking after the "internal error" happened to a big bank was connected to that millions of cash. I'm sure on one thing, the opposition is trying to make the country scared by funding those rebels.

First of all, thanks for the link.
I first look if there is a source so here is it.
You might want to put this in your first post for many people here doesnt look at the next posts anymore. They just reply to whatever is posted above.
This is good news. One more country that have been added to the changes of bitcoin community.

Well this is really interesting I never heard this on the news or etc.. but this is a great news of my fellow filipino people in the Philippines. I know a lot of people who uses bitcoin in the Philippines my friend actually introduced me on how to earn bitcoin via campaign signatures and he said that his friend only tough him to use it also. This is really a great opportunity for those who people who earn bitcoin and they can withdraw their money depending on the rate of the bitcoin. It can also benefit me because I'm earning bitcoin now and whenever I wan't to go home in the Philippines it help me have some extra money when I'm in vacation in there. So I hope this bank will upgrade more of their minimum withdrawal so that when people can get more.  ;)

At least this action by legitimizing bitcoin as mode of payment would bring a much easier and flexible method. I just pray that the government wouldn't think of intervening with it and controlling it in the future though I believe that they wouldn't so unless someone with interest with it would take over.

It's is happened on February that people who transact bitcoin they have to get certificate from government anti money laundering and other financial stability certificates

Well done philipines, now Indian government will learn lesson I guess. All developed countries are legitimating bitcoin as a payment method but the poor Indian government didn't understood the power of bitcoin. Soon in future bitcoin will rule the world and then we might have to use bitcoin like cryptocurrency and they again our poor government would legalize it because all developed countries are using it and it's an modern emerging technology and instead of blamming and making it illegal we should welcome and encourage the technology.

That is awesome news and I haven't heard about that until I saw it here just now, I'll look forward to telling my relatives about that and getting them even more interested in it with the legalization and all this is a good time to get more people to transact and use Bitcoin.

This is indeed a very good news for not only Philippines but for whole bitcoin community. This will definitely make people invest more in it and hence increasing the price. Now more people will show faith in bitcoin.  :D

The local exchange, coins.ph has been operating for years now, way before the government 'legitimized it'.
Yes, it's a great assurance that everything is legal and that it'd be unlikely, if not hard, for the exchange to just up and disappear.
It's just, I wonder how far the government will go with their "regulation", cause frankly, I do not want my coins and earnings from bitcoin to be taxed. ;D

More local businesses accepting bitcoin as payment is certainly welcome. (The taxes, not so much. Paid enough of that as it is. :()
 ;D

The article by BSP in February was also seen as an affirmation for btc recognition, but this is actually the official announcement for btc use publicly  as a payment official method. It can be said that btc is gaining new steps and is becoming a popular currency around the world.

That's is good if that will be happen, but there are other critics who are against in bitcoin Philippines.
so on your statement, you must have a valid proof of evidence that this things will be implement legally in terms of of all remittances
outlet nationwide.

Looks like they are taking a move right now and they are seeing the future of bitcoin. but only bank cental are accepting bitcoin as payment as of now how about the other company or business?
Well since we are growing in our country except more development it can be push the value of bitcoin more if bitcoin will be locally accepted by many store here in our country..

Lol im from the philippines and yet im still not receiving any news about Bangko  Sentral ng Pilipinas regulating bitcoins in our country.Im not against that thing but is still a goodbsource of info is this real at all?Can you give me some source please

Yes it was issued last February though the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) still gives warning to the people that we should avoid transactions that relates to illegal trades and money laundering. This is a good initiative for our country as it is clear that bitcoin is free and it won't be prohibited.

Oh why am i reading this now? How does this works? We can pay loans in btc? Cause i only use banks to convert money and that is only in the security bank. Actually I am quietly satisfied with just even coins.ph. But I know ill be needing that if eved i would need bigger finances like having a family. But its good that the government is imposing agreement and not in the whole tax free tradings.

Never heard this BSP before and looks like bitcoin is growing here in our country hoping that more people knows about bitcoin.. since many people also looking for a way to use bitcoin before now we can use bitcoin easily by many site and now they are officially legitimize bitcoin as payment method.. but we are still not seeing a company or store are accepting bitcoin as payment locally..
Hope that we can see a lot of store are accepting bitcoin as payment that can push other people to use bitcoin..

Considering the fact that it is commenting on the central bank being the one to accept Bitcoin it is highly likely that this is something more for trade as opposed to something for a lot of the citizens of the Philippines to be using. Considering that they're going through a rather interesting time right now I would not be surprised if there was something like this going on.
I don't know how pumped Bitcoin will get because of this happening, but there might be some interesting things to come out of this.

This can be used as a rebuttal. I have not seen the official news, but when you as a citizen of the Philippines and do not feel any policy of course this is something that is not true. Whereas when the Philippines can recognize bitcoin the bitcoin price will be expected to rise again.