Newsbytes.ph reports that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued a public warning against the use of virtual currency-including Bitcoin-in financial transactions, saying that there are no existing regulations to protect consumers from financial losses in case the high-tech currency fails.
According to the report, BSP stressed in its advisory that "there is no assurance that the value of Bitcoin or any virtual currency would be stable." In contrast to electric money, which is backed by cash for 100 percent of its stored value, "virtual currencies are not backed by any commodity like cash, gold or silver, [but] are merely valued subjectively according to one's ability to exchange them for goods," the central bank noted.
BSP released its advisory on the use of virtual currencies in light of the growing popularity of Bitcoin trading platforms online, with some of them being operated in the Philippines.
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