The Philippines’ Security Exchange Commission announced Monday that the governing body intends to draft rules for regulating virtual currencies and token crowdsales such as initial coin offerings.

Plans for regulations come on the cusp of worldwide attention given to cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, as investors and businesses continue to capitalize on the growing market. Regulators want to stay ahead of potential pitfalls when dealing with the economic consequences of these technologies.

“We need to act because initial coin offerings are sprouting especially in 2017,” Emilio Aquino, SEC commissioner in charge of enforcement and investor protection, said during a news conference reported by Reuters. “We want to come up with our own set of regulations. You have to be extra careful how investors in this new space are protected.”

Initial coin offerings, or ICOs, involve the sale of cryptocurrency tokens related to distributed ledger blockchain technology that powers businesses seeking funding. During 2017, businesses seeking funds in this manner exceeded an estimated $2 billion compared to an estimated $1.2 billion raised from venture capital across the same industry since 2012.

Governments around the world have begun reacting to the rise in popularity of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and ICOs that produce more. In many cases, this attention has led to outright bans such as in China where authorities quelled ICOs and shut down local trading platforms. South Korea similarly banned ICOs and began to propose regulation regarding virtual currencies.

“Unfortunately, there have been a lot of cases where ICO promoters vanish into thin air,” Aquino said. “We don’t want that to happen here.”

Although details on failed ICOs are still light, they’re not unheard of. An unscrupulous outfit could easily mint a new cryptocurrency, take money for the tokens and then disappear. This happened in September, when Ethereum-based project Confido raked in approximately $375,000, and the founders and the money vanished.

Then there’s poor security related to the trade and exchange of these tokens. According to research into the matter, it is estimated that 10 percent of funds raised in 2017 for ICOs have been stolen by hackers.

The regulation proposed by the Philippines SEC would also include guidelines for cybersecurity of token markets for this reason. It would also regulate licensees when it comes to the registration and sale of new tokens in a manner that makes the process more transparent and better understood by investors.

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