by Vaishali Sonik
The Philippines administrator-controlled economic zone has announced that they are planning to issue 25 licenses to selected cryptocurrency exchanges. CEZA, or Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, operating under the government’s economic zone in the northern tip of the Philippines is soon going to open its doors to 25 cryptocurrency exchange operators into their tax-friendly jurisdiction.
The news caught fire right after the authorities put an announcement on their official website. This licensing scheme by the Philippines is going to lead crypto-exchanges towards legalization. Under this licensing program, the crypto exchanges will undergo strict integrity checks coinciding with the wide spectrum of regulations developed for the cryptocurrency sector.
CEZA licensing rules for cryptocurrency exchanges
CEZA chief, Raul Lambino, stated that it will be essential for each of the cryptocurrency exchanges to invest at least $1 million within the first two years of its operations in the zone as well as holding a physical presence in the zone. He added that as there is a limitation in the licenses presently, each crypto-exchange will be given 20-30 sublicenses for traders and brokers.
During his statement, Mr. Raul stated that the Philippines will not sit back to become a haven for scammers and, accordingly, they have designed a specific integrity check mechanism for the cryptocurrency exchange platforms to undergo. Along with this, they have been working on mandating all the ICOs (initial coin offerings) to have their virtual coins to be “asset-backed”.
Since the announcement, many cryptocurrency exchanges have already submitted their applications to operate in a tax-friendly zone and these are currently being reviewed by the Philippine central bank. This news could mark the Philippines as an early adopter. During the candid interview, the deputy director of the Philippine central bank applauded them for pioneering the new regulatory measure for crypto-exchanges and also discussed some of the benefits of using Bitcoin.
