The International Budgetary Fund (IMF) has encouraged the Philippines' key bank to explore the possibility of starting to collect data on cross-edge flows of crypto assets.

The Imf fabricated the recommendation in a Technical Assistance Report paper, released Dec. 30, 2022, and based on data from the Fund's Monetary and Financial Statistics Mission in the country in July 2022.

Imf mission recommendations

Co-ordinate to the study, the International monetary fund's Philippines mission delivered a lecture on the handling of crypto-assets in macroeconomic statistics at the request of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier this year. Summarizing the mission'due south lecture, the written report notes that:

"The Philippines may become an of import marketplace for crypto-assets, as the BSP recently authorized operations for three more virtual currency exchanges (VCE), bringing the full number of approved VCE to 10."

Given this growing number, the IMF mission encouraged the central bank to start exploring the possibility of collecting data on these crypto exchanges for its macroeconomic analysis, specially in regard to international financial flows using crypto assets.

The mission proposed that the BSP requests aggregated data on gross transactions from the exchanges on a quarterly footing.

The data should indicate both the country of origin and destination of the funds transacted, it noted and would be most useful if it were cleaved downward to reveal the parties involved in transactions between individuals, financial and not-financial corporations.

The BSP'south mixed signals

BSP has required domestic crypto exchanges to register as remittance and transfer companies and implement specific safeguards — covering Anti-Coin Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism, run a risk management and consumer protection — since February 2022.

In June 2022, BitMEX Ventures invested in the BSP-licensed the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX), and in July, the BSP gave 2 further crypto exchanges — Virtual Currency Philippines, Inc. and ETranss — the light-green light to convert Philippine pesos into virtual currencies.

Yet these positive developments, the BSP's governor has also robustly warned against the potential use of cryptocurrencies for the financing of terrorism and stressed that the fundamental bank continues to closely monitor their apply in the country. He added that "at that place cannot exist a total condone for a central banking company or a third party that provides lender of last resort facility."