MANILA -- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Thursday it may finally release a set of guidelines to regulate cryptocurrency trading in the country.

SEC Chairperson and CEO Emilio Aquino said they were supposed to do that last year, but it was delayed.

“We have to make sure all the necessary safeguards are there. But we are still working on that. We are not closing our door naman,” said Aquino at the sidelines of a partnership event with e-wallet firm GCash which also has a cryptocurrency feature.

• GCash promotes local artists in new platform for NFT collections

He asserted that the public will be better protected if cryptocurrency trading is regulated in the Philippines.

Aquino admitted that "crypto" or virtual currency is already being used by Filipinos and that the SEC's mandate is to protect the public.

“It’s unavoidable. It’s a global thing…. We are not banning it altogether,” said Aquino.

There are several firms already selling cryptocurrencies in the country, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issuing Virtual Asset Provider Service (VASP) licenses.

But SEC still urged the public to be cautious in dealing with virtual assets.

In an advisory posted in December last year, the SEC warned that a number of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges are targeting Filipinos through online advertisements.

"They offer different products and schemes which are high risk and sometimes fraudulent," the advisory stated.

No timeline has been given on when the guidelines will be released, but Aquino said it could be as early as next year.

Meanwhile, several financial firms in the country are testing cryptocurrency trading on their respective platforms.

• UnionBank to offer Bitcoin trading on mobile app

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