Why Filipinos Should Use Bitcoins
Slight update on August 2019 to include newsletter form.
Why use bitcoins in the Philippines?
The Philippines ranks high in the list of countries receiving remittances from abroad. Similarly, with BPO and related jobs, numerous foreign companies are outsourcing parts (or even whole) of their businesses here to freelancers and companies.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has established brief guidelines for bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) usage in the country. Thereโs no better time for Filipinos to dabble in bitcoins than now. Let us tell you why:
Why Should You Use Bitcoins in the Philippines?
Transactions are faster:
Paypal clearance takes 3 – 5 business days before moneyย gets transferred to your savings bank account. With a bitcoin transaction,ย the transfer will take minutes.
Also, whereas you need to physically go to the bank to do banking transactions when you are the one sending money,ย you only need to have an Internet to initiate a bitcoin transaction. When you receive bitcoins, the coins arrive in your digital wallet. If you opt to send the bitcoin to a Coins.ph or Bitbit.cash wallet, you can convert it to pesos by a quick click of a button.
Transaction fees are lower:
If your loved ones are sending you Php 50,000 via Paypal, Paypal will take around Php 2,800 as a transfer fee (that’s based on the rate at the time I wrote this). While there is no VAT in remittances under the proposed tax laws of the 2016 PH administration, the transfer fees will remain. With Bitcoins, the fees are very minimal.
The exchange rate can make you earn more:
While the stock market closes on weekends, Bitcoin is traded and mined 24/7. The value of Bitcoin against the Philippine Peso fluctuates day and night. Even so, there is a relative trend and with enough knowledge, you can predict if it will continue going up or going down. It is like the Peso-Dollar exchange rate. Sometimes the Peso is weak against the dollar, sometimes it isn’t. If someone sends you 50 dollars, you have the option to hold that 50 dollars until its value in Pesos goes up.
A similar trend happens with bitcoin against the Peso, and you can take advantage of it. If someone sends you bitcoin, instead of cashing it out in Pesos immediately, you can hold it a little while longer and wait for a favorable exchange rate. Some people even hold Bitcoins far longer like what we do with our money deposited in the bank. This is in hopes that the bitcoin’s future PHP value will be more than what it is worth today.
The above discusses just some of the most important reasons why you should consider bitcoin in your daily transaction.
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Wait, I heard Bitcoin is also private? So why use Bitcoins?
It is true that Bitcoin is private, but keep in mind that it is also transparent. Bitcoins are sent from one BTC Address to another. Thanks to the BlockChain, all transactions made by that address (and how much it has) is publicly available on the Internet (although they won’t know that it is yours).
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Additionally, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Registered Bitcoin Exchange Services in the Philippines require Filipinos engaged in Bitcoin transactions to be KYCโd (Know Your Customer). This means Coins.ph knows who you are, just like how banks can identify you. If you use Coins.ph or any other exchanges to deal with your bitcoins, you are trusting them with your identity and your currency.
Also, I heard you can create your own bitcoins?
While only the government can print money, you can create your own bitcoins provided your computer has enough computing power to do it. The process is called Bitcoin Mining, which will be further explained in this guide.
Overall, we think the three points above are important to consider whether you should transact and use bitcoins in the Philippines. What do you think? Of course, that will depend on your goals, whether you want to keep holding onto your bitcoins or not. However, cheaper and faster transactions? We think those are enough to engage and switch in bitcoins starting today.