Philippine Central Bank Governor Explains Crypto Policy says I Dont Want It Banned

By: John

July 31, 2022 10:42 PM

Many Asia's central banks have been very clear about where they stand on cryptocurrencies. Some want it outlawed, while others welcome it as an emerging technology.

In an interview with Forkast’s Jenny Ortiz that was published on Friday, Felipe Medalla, the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the nation's central bank, discussed his position on cryptocurrencies. The governor of the Philippine central bank has shared his stance on regulating cryptocurrencies in the country, “I don’t want it banned.”

 
However, Medalla cautioned people against investing in cryptocurrency with money they cannot afford to lose, saying,

"I don’t want it banned, but I don’t want to call it cryptocurrency. Because it has really very little use for actual payments, especially when the price is so volatile. Because if the price is rising very fast, the people who own it will naturally not want to use it. But, if you use it to buy something and its value rises, you’ll regret it.”

He emphasized that a currency cannot be extremely volatile and suggested referring to it as "crypto assets." Also, Medalla criticized the environmental impact of bitcoin, he claimed that the cryptocurrency is terrible for the environment because the quantity of electricity that the miners use is higher than the electric consumption of several countries. Though he admitted that cryptocurrency "is a good thing" because it's an alternative to the government in nations with so many financial and economic restrictions.

He concluded that for trades, it is the policy of the central bank to enforce all the restrictions that are needed to prevent money laundering, especially to finance crimes in instances when you exchange crypto assets for bank deposits or conventional currency.

Medalla emphasized the following in relation to the cryptocurrency policy of the Philippine central bank: "we are not preventing an existing big bank to have a major campaign that gets deposits digitally and onboarding those clients as well. But, if you want to call yourself a digital bank, then you have to be fully digital."