Appsolutely, LoyalCoin’s Philippine Partner receives VCE and EPFS License from the BSP

November 9, 2020 — Appsolutely Inc. has received an approval of their request to operate as a Remittance and Transfer Company (RTC) with Virtual Currency Exchange (VCE) Service, its CEO Patrick Paul Palacios announced Saturday.

LoyalCoin is a blockchain-based rewards system where users earn points from participating merchants, with these points redeemable for use to any other merchants’ products within its ecosystem.

In the letter shared by Mr. Palacios, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved the request of Appsolutely to operate as a Remittance and Transfer Company (RTC) with Type “B” Remittance Agent with Virtual Currency Exchange (VCE) service and Type B Electronic Payment and Financial Services (EPFS). According to BSP’s Circular No. 944, a virtual currency exchange is an entity that offers services or engages in activities that provide a facility for the conversion or exchange of fiat currency to virtual currency (VC) or vice versa.

EPFS are products or services offered by BSP-Supervised institutions to enable customers to receive payments, initiate financial transactions, or facilitate and offer other related services through an electronic device. The BSP requires additional documentation  for a Type “B”  license.

Mr. Palacios said the company started the application December 2017. “Due to our proposal to include LoyalCoin as a Digital Currency in the App, we went through major scrutiny from the SEC and the BSP.” Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra represented Appsolutely Inc. as Legal Counsel throughout the application process. 

In 2018, Appsolutely released the LoyalWallet available for download in Android and iOs. The LoyalWallet is the main consumer hub for all LoyalCoin transactions.

“With the release of the appropriate license, consumers will be able to cash-in at convenient channels and cash-out to be credited to their bank accounts or via partner remittance centers. LoyalWallet’s services also expands to remittance via wallet to wallet transfer which will bring down fees to around 30%,” Appsolutely said in a statement to BitPinas.

“The BSP has been very supportive of our innovation. We believe that regulation is the key for mass adoption so we went through the necessary steps to obtain the license. We are grateful to the BSP for extending a special approval and allowing us to conduct our final demo virtually” Mr. Palacios added.

Running on the NEM blockchain, the points, which are coins or cryptocurrency, do not expire and can be used on other participating brand partners. “We are continuously forward-looking to share the benefits and our vision of blockchain-powered loyalty economy worldwide,” Mr. Palacios said at that time. 

Appsolutely Inc. joins 16 other companies with a license to operate as a virtual currency exchange in the Philippines, including Betur Inc (Coins.ph), Rebittance (SCI Ventures), Fyntegrate (PDAX), and i-Remit, Inc. 

This article is first published on BitPinas: Appsolutely, LoyalCoin’s Philippine Partner receives VCE and EPFS License from the BSP