Philippines Crypto: The authority of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone (CEZA), which is located north of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, has announced in a press release that it has authorized 25 new cryptocurrency exchanges to operate, with an investment for each company of at least 1 million dollars, to be paid within two years.
This is a somewhat peculiar situation because, according to the director of the special area Mr Lambino, trading will be admitted to the Filipinos, but not access to the ICOs.
So Manila operators will be blocked directly via IP.
As Lambino states: “If they will do ICOs we will see that they are asset-backed because they say there are a lot of scammers around. With the initial offers of digital coins, they can perhaps attract subjects without experience, promising heaven and earth, while perhaps it is a Ponzi scheme. We will not allow it to our citizens “. Therefore part of the services, although located in the Philippines, will essentially be reserved for international operators.
However, admission to the special area is an element of confidence in the cryptocurrency environment, because CEZA’s authority carries out an assessment of legitimacy, not only on the invested entity and economic sustainability. The location in this area also ensures a complete tax exemption as well as other operational simplifications.
Of the 25 authorizations offered, 21 have already been signed by international operators, including the Korean Hanwha group and the Chinese Changwei International Co.
The Philippines, which in 2017 prepared a memorandum entitled “Guidelines for exchange in cryptocurrencies”, hope to become the Silicon Valley of the Far East with this initiative.
