This year April the Philippines notified about its plans to issue permits to 10 DLT and crypto-firms to initiate their business in the economic zone. This week, the theory has been put to the test: the special zone is going to welcome three cyber money bourses ahead of the expected $3 million-worth investment.
The Philippines Make a Step Up
As per the local media outlet The Manila Times, The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) has allowed three crypto trading venues to function in the economic zone. The body expects to attract investors and in general, gather around $3 million. The report concerning the issue is dated July 10.
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Crypto-Sacrifice
However, the path of these three crypto-firms has not been so smooth. CEZA, which is a state company in charge of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport operations, required the firms to endow a minimum of $1 million in the span of two years. Furthermore, they had to cover license fees as well. The latter should have constituted up to $100,000.
As the CEZA vice administrator has explained it for planning Raymundo T. Roquero, at first companies had to pay a fee for the application. It was $100,000. On top of that, they had to pay another sum of $100,000 in license fees. Afterward, each company had to pass probity checks and API (application programming integration. That cost them another $100,000.
What Are These Lucky (Read: Rich) Companies?
On Tuesday, the licenses were officially given to the crypto-firms in Pasay City in the Philippines. At the event, Roquero reportedly unveiled where the companies come from. The “lucky” companies are from Hong Kong (two of the crypto-bourses) and one from Thailand.
Regarding the other cybermoney trading venues, Roquero said that their “pleas” have been affirmed but not released yet. The CEZA deputy administrator for planning also noted that “these are offshore companies,” and each of them has endowed $1 million already. He added that now they are permitted to run in Manila.
What’s Next?
Even though three companies have got their licenses, they will have to refurbish them next year and keep doing that if they want to stay afloat. At the same time, the terms state that none of the fees is refundable.
So far, 70 firms have already applied for CEZA’s permit. In accordance with Roquero, such interest of cybermoney-companies in the special economic zone comes from the fact that it is the only place where they are offered clear rules and regulations to deal with virtual money.
