BSP warns public anew vs virtual asset firms

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday, Feb. 14, has again issued a warning against transacting with virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that are unregistered and domiciled abroad or unknown foreign virtual asset companies.

The BSP said there are only 20 registered VASPs with the BSP as of endJanuary 2023, of which two are not yet operational and two are inactive. Of the registered VASPs, the BSP also listed four that are not operating at the moment.

In total, of the 20 that did register with the BSP, only 12 are active and in operation as of end-January.

These 12 VASPs are:

COEX STAR; Appsolutely; COINS PH; Bexpress; Bloomsolutions; Frenetic; Moneybees Forex; Maya Philippines; Philbit; PDAX; TopJuan; and Zybi Tech.

The BSP on Tuesday also reissued an August 17, 2022 public advisory reminding Filipinos that the BSP will not be able to enforce legal recourse or protect consumers such as redress mechanisms for VASPs based abroad. Dealing in virtual assets, said the BSP, are generally considered as high risk activities “which may result in huge financial losses due to price swings.”

The BSP highly encourage financial consumers to verify with the BSP if the virtual asset firm or companies they are dealing with is supervised and regulated.

Based on a Dec. 7, 2022 memo, the central bank has likewise instructed all registered VASPs not to engage in any business activities other than for the safekeeping of assets.

The BSP imposed a three-year ban on VASP licensing beginning on Sept. 1, 2022. The BSP refers to virtual currencies as virtual assets. It issued a circular to govern VASPs in 2017. The VASP regulation expands the BSP’s previous rules on virtual currency exchanges to include businesses that perform an exchange between one or more forms of virtual