BSP Wants to Tighten Rules for Locally Licensed Crypto Exchanges | Weekly News Recap

GM. Welcome back to BitPinas Key Points: easily digestible news in concise formats for easy reading. It’s time for the weekly news recap. In today’s news feature: The BSP is going to require more reporting from local exchanges, including Audited Financial Statements only from BSP-approved external auditors.

Here are the top crypto news stories of the past week!

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Market Updates 📈

Here are the crypto highlights of the week:

• Bitcoin is up 7.4% vs the previous seven days, now at $98,579.05.
• The weekly top gainer in the top 100 coins is Stellar ($0.5406), up 114%.
• The weekly top loser in the top 100 is PNUT ($1.29), down 22.2%.
• Noteworthy: DOT ($9.14) is up 56.6% vs the past week.

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Feature Story: BSP Wants to Tighten Rules for Locally Licensed Crypto Exchanges

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has distributed a draft circular for new reporting and notification requirements for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) under Section 902-N of the Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions.

These updates are meant to improve how data is reported and collected.

What’s the significance:

• The new rules aim to make the crypto industry more transparent.
• BSP will be able to track virtual asset activities better and reduce risks for the public.

What is being updated:

Regular reporting: Crypto companies must send BSP reports (there are 13 in total) about their activities, including:

• Monthly:
  • The total number and value of crypto transactions.
  • Where their customers’ funds are stored (cold, warm, or hot wallets).
• Quarterly:
  • Information about customers (like whether they are individuals or businesses).
  • Details of wallets, including balances and types of assets stored.
  • How much money is set aside to cover customers’ crypto funds.
  • Public wallet addresses and their balances.
  • A summary of the company’s financial position.
• Semi-Annually:
  • Use cases for accounts split by resident, non-resident, and foreign corporations.
• Annually:
  • Audited financial statements from BSP-approved external auditors.

When is the new system coming: Starting January 2025, all reports must go through BSP’s new online portal. For the first half of 2025, companies can still use the current system while they adjust.

What’s next: The new rules take effect 15 days after they’re published in the Official Gazette or a major newspaper.

• Companies that fail to follow the rules may face penalties.

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Local Crypto News 🇵🇭

• Coins.ph listed the tokens $IOTX, $LUCE, $SHORK, and $PUPS.
• Bayanichain CEO Paul Soliman shared that he met with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to discuss blockchain use cases.
• YGG GAP Season 8 is now live.
• UBX is set to launch a multi-currency stablecoin exchange.

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Noteworthy 🌟

Key updates and announcements from around the crypto and blockchain world:

• Polymarket bettors raised the odds of Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick becoming Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick after Elon Musk endorsed him.
• Bitcoin surged past $95,000, driven by post-election momentum, the launch of options on spot Bitcoin ETFs, and growing institutional interest.
• Trump Media is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt.
• Coinbase is delisting Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) by December 19, citing listing standards.

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Educational Corner 🎓

Last week, BitPinas published several informative and guide articles in various categories.

• Game Guides: SpaceS
• Discover: Bitcoin predictions
• November Update:
  • List of 30+ games with potential airdrop
  • List of Cost-Free Airdrops 2024

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Regulation Watch 📜

Stay informed about the latest regulatory updates from here and around the world and what they mean for you:

• Senator Cynthia Lummis proposed converting part of the U.S. Treasury’s gold reserves into Bitcoin to create a strategic reserve.
• Nepal’s Financial Intelligence Unit is tackling crypto fraud with monitoring, awareness, and stricter regulations despite a trading ban.
• South Korea plans to implement a 20% cryptocurrency gains tax in 2025 while raising the exemption threshold significantly.
• Germany‘s failure to pass key MiCAR legislation prevents BaFin from issuing crypto licenses.

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Community Spotlight 🔦

The following people were feature in last week’s community spotlights:

• Jonathan Tinoco, Founder, Museigen.io (November 19)
• Stephy, social media manager, YGG Pilipinas (November 20)
• Kookoo CryptoTV, Web3 Content Creator, NFT Philippines (November 22)
• Jhobert Baquisal, Guild Leader, Bicol Axie Express (November 23)

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At the Scene 📍

On the ground activations and more.

• YGG Play Summit

More Web3 and AI News 💡

Discover the latest in web3 and AI innovation.

• Draper Associates invested in Torram to advance institutional-grade decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin. 
• Morpheus, a decentralized AI project, launched on mainnet, offering personal AI agents to tackle issues like centralization and data monopolies.
• Crypto Exchange Woo X added “George AI,” an AI trader, to its copy trading app, enabling users to emulate machine-driven trades. 
• Arkham Intel, a crypto data firm, plans to launch a spot trading platform in the U.S., expanding into the crypto trading space.

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Web3 Gaming Section 🎮

The future of web3 is gaming, and here are the latest news.

• Immutable reported a 71% year-over-year growth in 2024.
• Parallel TCG‘s Aftermath expansion adds 90 new cards, exclusive loot, and new gameplay mechanics.
• Helika and Notcoin launched the Telegram Gaming Accelerator (TGA), offering game developers free tools, mentorship, and access to Telegram’s massive user base. 
• BreederDAO rebranded as Sovrun, shifting focus from NFT asset generation to pioneering player-driven Autonomous Worlds (AWs) in web3 gaming.

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Upcoming Event 📅

Happening today:

• iThink Code Camp: STI College San Fernando: November 25, 2024

Upcoming events:

• iThink Code Camp: PHINMA Araullo University: November 28, 2024
• Tech VCs & Ph.ounders: December 3, 2024

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