Philippines Wants To Join The Bitcoin Goldrush

A lawmaker in the Philippines has proposed the creation of a digital currency under the “E-Peso Act of 2014,”.

The bill was proposed by Pangasinan Representative Kimi Cojuangco, and seeks to create the “E-Peso”, a digital currency to be used as a medium of exchange for online transactions. It will be legal tender in the country, and could be used to pay debts, taxes, buy goods and services, and be readily available in all bank branches operating in the country.

If passed into law, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) will be mandated to study Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies so the government can better decide what technology to use for this government-backed digital currency. It will also be the entity responsible for minting the E-Peso.

“The BSP will also choose a system that uses peer to peer processing of the log chain and shall exert its utmost to leverage existing hardware being used by the other leading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin,” the bill stated.

In addition to studying other cryptocurrencies, the BSP will mandate all bank branches to have at least one computer that is able to meet the needs of E-Peso and act as a local peer.

E-Peso will share some Bitcoin characteristics, such as having a limited amount of coins available. For the first two years, only one billion E-Pesos will be in circulation.

The move to have a legal digital currency in the country comes after a report illustrated how the Philippines would greatly benefit from using a digital currency given the amount of remittances it recieves each year.

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