Bitcoin Forum

Philippines’ Central Bank Will Continue to Closely Monitor Crypto, Citing Terror Financing

The governor of the Philippines’ central bank, Benjamin Diokno, has warned against the potential use of cryptocurrencies for terrorism financing and underscored that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will continue to closely monitor their use in the country. The news was reported by local English language newspaper The Philippine Star on June 10.

In addition to Diokno’s remarks, BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo reportedly provided further insights into the institution’s stance toward cryptocurrencies during the launch of an unnamed book about bitcoin (BTC).

Diokno ostensibly criticized bitcoin’s potential to function as a unit of account, medium of exchange and store of value, claiming that the top cryptocurrency’s volatility inhibits its usefulness on all three points.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/philippines-central-bank-will-continue-to-closely-monitor-crypto-citing-terror-financing

https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/740_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS9zdG9yYWdlL3VwbG9hZHMvdmlldy9hYTI2YTdhOWRlMjg3NWQwYzQxNTFjNWE1MmE5NjU5Ny5qcGc=.jpg

LOL, isn't it too late for the Philippines to get this news though? I mean they have involved themselves in crypto for the longest time and why is it just now that the whole issue of terrorism/drugs comes into place? Coins.ph is very strict as far as their KYC/AML compliant already so I was surprised that BSP just release this statement in 2019. Although I can only surmise that drugs what one of the biggest problem of the Philippines right now, eventhough the government has step up it's "Oplan Tokhang", everyday lots of drug addicts are being busted, indicative that it's really hard to stop it. But kudos to the government though, at least they are very supportive of crypto and I do hope that they will continue to do so as oppose to their neighboring country India who make a U-turn.

With the memes I have seen in social media its funny too say that the people are right that they created an issue after they became somehow a crypto-friendly country. It's like they are forcing themselves to go back a few steps from where they started. It's really funny because they didn't observe this precautionary measures or even planned to execute one before crypto related investments started pouring in the country. I might be wrong and the government actially saw a increase of scams happening in the country that is why they are doing this but nonetheless they should have did this in the first place.

Banks closely monitor about crypto is it because they think that crypto is a competitors.Maybe nowadays many people now withdrawing there fund transfering to crypto.banks afraid of losing customers and trying to do crypto.well investing into crypto now was well known and earning money in a small amount of time.unlike banking only small interest you got.
What if most of bankers switch to crypto what will happen to there company?
Banks need more customer to survive and if many people withdraw there fund how they survive? Banks doesnt want this to be happen.so they monitor crypto and think what they should do to prevent this matter.
Well this is just for my opinion thats why they monitor crypto.

terrorism financing? I wonder why so many central banks in many countries have decided to use the same argument: "terrorist financing." is there any statistic that shows that bitcoin is increasing funding for terrorism? or the banks are just making assumptions?

Knowing what their president is like he will probably kill anyone who uses bitcoin for drug related crimes. Conventional usage though should be ok as they are a crypto friendly country, or at least it used to be before this article was released

Anytime it can make a u-turn just like on what we are seeing on neighboring countries yet this would entirely depend into its president itself.
For now on PH,they are still on the positive side when it comes to crypto and yet we do even see that there are 3 local exchangers which had been approved
on the country afaik which do signifies positive adaptability of crypto and i agree about this Terrorism issue yet local exchangers do really have that
strict compliance when it comes to KYC.

This new statement was released under the new governorship of the Central Bank of the Philippines but I am sure this just a word of caution and that they are just doing their monitoring job religiously. Now, this can mean that crypto-related companies doing business in the country should make sure that they are above board and they should be strict in complying with all the regulations required by the government. The most popular exchange in the country has been strict with its KYC requirement and it is constantly banning accounts suspected of illegal activities to the consternation of those affected. I guess this strict implementation will continue and can even escalate...the most important thing for us is that we are generally free to conduct the business here. We could not actually blame for the government to be concerned on possible terrorism linkage and abuse (though this is far from reality for now) all because the country had been hit before by this gruesome and cowardly act of victimizing innocent people.

And according to the source where cointelegraph get their news


Well, someone from central banks said that, but as far as they are concerned, they still see it as no threat to their very existence.