LAST YEAR PA SANA: SEC reveals PH Crypto Regulatory Framework Draft Delayed Due to FTX Fiasco
A SEC Commissioner confirmed that they have had the regulatory framework for crypto since last year, but delayed it due to FTX collapse.
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Editing by Nathaniel Cajuday
- SEC Commissioner Kelvin Lester Lee has revealed in an interview with that their team has already drafted a regulatory framework for crypto in the country.
- But the Commissioner also disclosed that since the news about the collapse of FTX exchange broke out in November last year, they decided not to publicize the regulatory framework and make more internal revisions to provide stricter protection and security to crypto investors in the country.
- According to Lee, he is hoping to get these rules to be implemented in digital asset offices and exchanges within this year, 2023.
In an interview with ANC News, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Kelvin Lester Lee confirmed that the Commission has already drafted a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies to further provide protection and security to investors in the country.
However, the Commissioner revealed that their team was supposed to share the news last November during the Philippine Blockchain Week but was halted as the news about the FTX collapse broke out.
“We were actually ready to launch late last year ‘yung draft public dissemination, but because of what happened with FTX, it was the time where things came crashing and a continuation of what they call crypto winter. So, because of that we chose to forgo the release, we held it back; our decision was to make the rules a little more strict in light of what is happening,” he explained.
FTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, went from a having a crypto empire to filing bankruptcy after it was revealed that the balance sheet of its sister company, Alameda Research, is mostly composed of its own FTX token (FTT). The collapse has resulted in $8 billion or more in missing funds and has affected about one million of its users.
Read the timeline of the FTX collapse covered by BitPinas here.
This is where Lee emphasized that the SEC does not want “anything similar to happen to the Philippines,” adding that though there are still revisions being made to the draft, their team is pushing to release the framework this year.
“That is still undergoing internal revisions, we’re looking at having that, I know I said this before, but this year I am hoping that this will happen, that I’ll get these rules out in digital asset offices and digital asset exchange within the year,” he affirmed.
Since 2021, the Commission has been advising the investing public to be cautious and do their own due diligence before engaging with crypto-related entities. He also emphasized that the focus of the SEC is to protect investors in regards to the growing cryptocurrency, fintech, and blockchain industries.
It can be recalled that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has confirmed that it has asked locally licensed cryptocurrency exchanges about their exposure to FTX following the latter’s collapse last November.
Recently, the Commission released a draft version of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Law (Republic Act 11765), which will allow the SEC to impose stricter penalties on scammers and Ponzi schemes upon implementation.
Under a signed memorandum with the University of the Philippines Law Center (UPLC) through the University of the Philippines Legal Center Research Program, the Commission will also conduct joint research and capacity-building projects focusing on cryptocurrency and financial technology regulation.
This article is published on BitPinas: LAST YEAR PA SANA: SEC reveals PH’s Regulatory Framework for Crypto Delayed Due to FTX Fiasco
Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.
