In the Philippines, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies may soon land on the stock exchange.
This was reported by CNN Philippines, which reported a statement by Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president and CEO Ramon Monzon. In fact, during a top management meeting a fortnight ago, Monzon stated:
“If there should be any exchange for cryptos, it should be done at the PSE. Why? Number one, it’s because we have the trading infrastructure. But more important, we’ll be able to have investor protection safeguards especially with a product like crypto”.
In other words, the Philippine Stock Exchange would like to be at the forefront when the regulator gives the green light to regulated cryptocurrency trading in the country.
PSE was created in 1992 with the merger of Manila Stock Exchange and Makati Stock Exchange, it lists 275 corporate stocks with a combined market capitalization of about $250 billion, or less than half of bitcoin.
In the Philippines, it is the de facto national stock exchange, and there has long been discussion in the country about regulating crypto exchanges in order to open up this sector also to institutional investors who need regulated platforms to operate in the financial markets.
Philippine stock exchange unable to ignore bitcoin
CNN Philippines also reports that PSE now considers cryptocurrencies an asset class that can no longer be ignored, given the growing interest they are gaining.
Monzon himself explicitly stated that many people are now attracted to this type of high volatility investment, adding:
“If there’s going to be any structured trading of crypto in the Philippines, it should be under our watch”.
The CEO of PSE also stated that “unfortunately” they cannot yet do so, due to the lack of sufficient regulation, hinting between the lines that if they could, they would start trading cryptocurrencies on their platform immediately.
In other words, PSE is just waiting for the green light from the country’s regulators to launch the service.
On the other hand, Filipino citizens who invest or speculate in cryptocurrencies are probably already numerous, and PSE certainly regrets that foreign exchanges such as Coinbase receive the commissions on exchanges.
Recently, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange seems to be doing something similar, although the problem of the lack of proper regulation of the crypto market could still be an insurmountable obstacle for regulated platforms such as exchanges to list cryptocurrencies. However, there are several regulated products on the market that replicate the value of cryptocurrencies, so they could start there.
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