FMI sees the Philippines as a key market for cryptocurrencies

Key facts:

According to a survey, 74% of Filipinos are aware of cryptocurrencies.

32% of respondents have cryptocurrencies, but only 14% have invested in an ICO.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Philippines to improve the collection of cryptocurrency transaction information, as the country increasingly attracts more players to this emerging financial environment.

"The Philippines could become an important market for cryptocurrencies," the IMF tells the Philippine authorities in a technical assistance report on the monetary and financial information mission, which was completed in July 2019.

The IMF said Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) had already authorized the operations of three other digital currency exchange bureaus, thus bringing the total number of digital currency exchange bureaus licensed to ten.

An updated list on the BSP website shows that it had already approved a total of 13 digital currency exchange bureaus by the end of October 2019.

"The mission encourages the BSP to begin exploring the possibility of collecting information in these exchange houses for macroeconomic analysis purposes, in particular the international financial flow made with cryptocurrencies is of interest," says the IMF report published on December 30, 2019.

"The mission suggests requesting aggregate information, based on quarters, on gross operations, indicating the country of origin and the destination of the funds traded," says the IMF report. " "In addition, it could be useful to disaggregate the intermediaries involved in the transaction between individuals, both financial corporations and non-financial corporations," said the IMF.

According to a report by an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) entitled "Crypto assets in Asia: consumer attitudes, behaviors and experiences" published last December, a large part of Filipinos are aware of cryptocurrencies, even when currently the possession of cryptocurrencies remains in a low range due to the perceived risk of these digital assets.

The results obtained from an online survey conducted between February and March last year, showed that the level of awareness about cryptocurrencies in the Philippines was 74%, in ranges between "pretty good" with 17% of participants, " to some extent ”with 20% of the participants, and“ not very well ”with 27% of the participants.

A smaller percentage (38%) of Filipino participants also know the so-called initial coin offerings (ICO), a form of capital raising using cryptocurrencies.

However, only 32% of the participants said they currently owned cryptocurrencies, while only 14% were ICO investors.