The head of the Central Bank of the Philippines opposed the ban on cryptocurrencies

Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla told Forkast that the agency does notplans to ban digital assets.

According to him, now there is little use in cryptocurrencies for real payments due to high volatility. Medalla also noted the harm of bitcoin to the environment.

“A useful use case [for cryptocurrencies] is evading government monitoring. The question is, what social benefit does it bring?”, — said the head of the BSP.

Medalla believes that in most states the government is not ideal, but contributes to the common good, so that "there is no need to weaken the government."

“Some crypto assets have lost almost two-thirdsvalue over a very short period. So my advice is: if you are going to buy this, do not invest money that you cannot lose, ”he explained.

The BSP Chairman spoke about the agency's plans to test the national digital currency by the end of 2022. The lessons learned from the pilot project are used to guide the next steps in the development of the CBDC.

Recall that in January, the largest bank in the Philippines, UnionBank, announced the launch of trading and storage of cryptocurrencies. The company did not specify the approximate release date.

Earlier, the head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, spoke aboutthe company's plans to obtain a license in the Philippines. In July, think tank Infrawatch PH called on the Department of Commerce and Industry to launch an investigation into the bitcoin exchange for illegal marketing campaigns.

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