By John Reczon Calay
Bangkok-based cryptocurrency consulting firm Global Crypto Hub (GCH) has opened its Philippine office to introduce their initial coin offering (ICO) “usereum.”
GCH, whose local office is located at the Jollibee Plaza in Ortigas, Pasig City, is comprised of professionals with backgrounds in blockchain technology, investing, PR, and marketing.
Usereum is a utility coin that will be primarily used to? pay for expos organized by GCH. According to them, usereum already has its own funding created from the expo revenues they organized.
Usereum uses the blockchain technology framework ? a “digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions.” Network participants in a blockchain have their own private keys given to each crypto transactions they have made and is secured like a digital signature.
“Cryptocurrency is not illegal as there are no created laws to regulate it yet,” GCH founder Shahin Pili said. “But to provide protection and safeguard the interest of our clients and the cryptocurrencies we are marketing, we are on our part are creating a self-regulating system for the industry.”
As of today, the government has not yet implemented rules and regulations on virtual currencies. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is developing a regulatory framework to govern cryptocurrency transactions and is expected to be finalized “within this year.” The SEC has partnered with its US and Australian counterparts in the drafting of the regulatory framework.
“While recognizing the potential benefits [of virtual currencies], the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is equally cognizant of the attendant risks, particularly, their propensity to be used in illicit activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing,” the BSP said in a December 2017 advisory.
READ: The rules on use of virtual currencies, according to BSP
GCH co-founder Jagdish Pandya said that the firm is looking forward for a dialogue with the Philippine government to consider using cryptocurrency as a mode of payment for commodities and public utilities, as well as remittance tool for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
