Topic: AMA (Ask Me Anything): The current state of Bitcoin in the Philippines 🇵🇭 - page 7. (Read 2141 times)

1,000-2,000 is definitely a lot cheaper than I thought; and 3 to 4 hours is a long time. Well, 1,000-2,000 pesos is a lot higher than the minimum wage I guess so that makes sense.

Unfortunately I don't think bitcoin ATM's help a lot. Bitcoin ATM's won't necessarily get people to use it(note the humongous fees). It's good publicity, I guess?

I agreed, most Filipino people in the Philippines believed  that bitcoin was a form of ponzi scheme. And the saddest thing which is most happened was that majority of the opportunist scammer people they used BItcoin as front to their businesses. Especially, if they will connect Bitcoin into MLM or networking
company. So you can't blame them why is like that. But in some other side if you will go deeper into bitcoin it has a good impact to each everyone of us whether individuals or etc.

I am also from the Philippines. When other people from other countries were invited in joining a site they thought thst it is always a scam specially when the people who invited them are filipinos. I think it is our time to alter thei minds that we are all not scammer.

Great a bitcoin advocate in the Philippines and I appreciate on the marketing strategies you are doing to promote bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the Philippines. Hopefully soon we will see bitcoin ATM machines in the major cities here in the Philippines to boost the adaption of cryptocurrency in the market especially to the big malls here in the Philippines.

Really unfortunate indeed. Poverty does that to people, I guess?

I've left all the local bitcoin/crypto-related groups I knew due to all the spam. Barely any discussion at all.

Anyway, here you go: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CryptoPH/

Oh wow. That's quite a lot higher than I thought.

Genuinely curious.. I haven't tried "partying" in Manila. What were you able to get with ₱1,000-₱2,000?

I know it sucks but the worse part is that some of our fellow men are stubborn in these stuffs. They still continue to post referrals here and referrals there despite the fact that their platform which they are joining in is brand new and already looks suspicious for the others. They choose to ignore all the warnings from their environment just for a few bucks that they might (since the majority of these schemes are quite questionable) earn on those referrals. I can't really understand why they are still hooked in these things which usually end up  a scam
Oh really? May I know what is it? I'm already tired of looking into referral links every time scroll down along my newsfeed .

Yeah, that's the main problem. I think the best solution for this is through conducting seminars to educate them about crypto butvthe question is HOW? Our country do not show a strong support for us and we also do not have at an association so I guess it will depends on voluntary actions for now.

Last year, one bank was locking up accounts of users that has crypto-related transactions. Wasn't hearing any complaints recently so it's either they're now crypto-friendly, or maybe most crypto people just moved to other banks. For now, they pretty much have no comment on crypto. So as of now, I'd say the Philippines is very crypto friendly.

I don't know anyone paying their taxes on capital gains LOL. Most government officials are pretty much old folks that are oblivious to cryptocurrencies.

I really don't know, as I rarely do meetup trades with LocalBitcoins, as I mostly accept PayPal. Anyway, this shouldn't really be a problem if you chose well secured locations like malls and such.

Very small minority.

Damn LOL. You should've been potentially the first customer to pay in BTC.

Right, the Philippine government are open minded in the new technologies of cryptocurrency they accept bitcoin and recognize cause they see it is big help for there people to change there life and there economy.

It seems interesting also about bitcoin in the Philippines, because the Philippines is a country that has followed technological advancements today

Do your government tax Crypto currencies based on Capital gains or as VAT as a currency? < I tried to Google it, but I cannot seem to find anything>

Would you say the Localbitcoin trades are safe to use or are they also riddled with scammers and criminals that are waiting to pounce on victims. 

How many merchants accept bitcoin as direct payment.

I have one question. Can you tell us about attitude of commercial banks in Philippines towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? As far as I know Central Bank of Philippines didn't recognized Bitcoin as currency, so it's grey area for commercial banks. Are they sceptical about crypto? From what I read, legal status of Bitcoin is similar like in my country, attitude of Central Bank also, but commercial banks are not crypto-friendly. They can even close your account if you deal with crypto, some banks also have restricted transfers to several crypto exchanges.

The Philippine government was pretty much 'meh' with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Slightly positive, due to them approving a good number of exchanges, but almost nothing negatively. They're just focused more on cracking down those ponzi schemes. Not strict with taxes as well, as far as I know.

There's this one bank that was pretty much locking up the bank accounts of people that made bitcoin/cryptocurrency-related transactions, so there was a lot of complaints sometime last year. Others moving to other banks because others are more crypto-friendly. I think that one bank that was previously locking accounts are crypto-friendly now though, as I haven't heard a single complaint since then(or maybe everyone just moved lol).

In Manila(the capital of the Philippines), ehh, a few bitcoin ATMs here and there, and that's pretty much it. The best thing you could use your bitcoin here right now is to pay for mobile load and to pay bills through Coins.ph(pretty much the Coinbase of the Philippines, but better). Bitcoin as a payment in the Philippines overall, a small small minority. Unfortunately bitcoin in the Philippines right now is mostly an investment and a sort of tool for ponzi schemes. The community of people who are really enthusiastic towards bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general is quite small unfortunately. Ponzi schemes are really hot here simply because of poverty and ignorance basically.

it would be cool if you could write a short summary of the situation with bitcoin in Philippines from your own point of view. some suggestion topics to cover:
- the government stance about bitcoin, do they consider it as a currency or a commodity or something else? how are the regulations? how are taxes?
- the banks attitude towards bitcoin? are they happy and accepting bitcoin or are they blocking user's accounts who trade bitcoin or cause issues?
- how is the adoption of bitcoin (the most important thing i am interested in is seeing shops as in offline/physical location shops that are accepting bitcoin)

I can help you on these, just give me a couple of hours, currently at work now.

This is because there are many scammers in our country that uses Bitcoin to scam other people. What's worse is these investors doesn't know what they are investing for. They just see how they can make money and don't think about the risks of putting their money into it. The sad part for me is these people have little to no knowledge on what Bitcoin is. What they only think is the returns if they invest into this company or group.

I have been using coins.ph for almost a year already and I didn't encounter any problems using it. The app is very convenient that you don't need to go to line up just to pay bills. I wish more and more users will be using this in the future.

Unfortunately I really can't contribute to this, as I don't really travel much. 3rd world country problems right there.

Definitely! Coins.ph is convenient as hell, as you could also pay bills using it. With that said, yea it's really unfortunate that bitcoin is just a ponzi scheme or a get-rich-quick scheme in the Philippines; which is really not a surprise in my opinion, because you know, poverty and stuff. If you saw the Philippine bitcoin/crypto Facebook pages.. they're pretty much breeding grounds for referral links. There's only one Facebook group with legitimate enthusiasts due to the admins being strict.

I'm also currently residing in the Philippines, but for the most parts of the year, I live in Canada. Tbh, one of the most reputable exchanges in there did a pretty great deal of bridging the gap between the Filipino people and bitcoin in general, though I must admit that most Filipinos are still seeing bitcoin as a ponzi scheme and a get-rich-quick scheme, which is quite saddening. Coins.ph also does a great job in being a concierge with bills payment and buying e-load and whatnot, and I must applaud how their customer service remain top notch even after all these years.

These are some pictures posted by Silent26 from the Philippines.
http://mobileimg.com/mypictures/index.php?/category/12

I'd love to see some more with comments and descriptions so that we can get a feel for the islands and the local customs.

It might be best to post them in political or off topic though.

As requested by Jet Cash:


I'm a dude currently residing somewhere in the Philippines. This topic is for people who are genuinely curious on how bitcoin(or cryptocurrencies in general) is doing here in the Philippines.

Feel free to ask serious questions related to the current state of Bitcoin in the Philippines and I'll try my best to answer them as soon as possible.

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Public perception

Bitcoin is decently known here in the Philippines, especially for the teenager-young adult crowd. Unfortunately though, bitcoin is just mostly a investment and a sort of "mirage" that scammers and the uneducated people use to spread their ponzi scheme referral links. Even in the information technology crowd, a huge majority still think that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are just investments(even if they most definitely have the capabilities into understanding what bitcoin actually is, and what it's for), with only a very small minority that's actually passionate about bitcoin whether they're financially invested or not. So yeah, a lot of "when moon" people.

I personally know a few people in the technology industry that "invested" in XRP on it's all time high, without doing any research at all. A lot just claim that "XRP is a long hold". Pretty ironic that they're the demographic that you expect to do a lot of research; and also ironic that they actually sold at the crash even though they said that they would hold for years. LOL

Online social media groups concerning bitcoin are pretty much just breeding grounds for ponzi referral links. It's pretty sad, but it's something that's really expected due to the high percentage of poverty.

A lot of people(the older demographic) also thinks that bitcoin is a scam, simply because all they see on news television is those "bitcoin investment" ponzi schemes get caught up and raided by the police. I really don't blame them sometimes, as the media frequently word their titles quite inaccurately(or maybe on purpose, to spark more controversy).


Usability

The Philippines has Coins.ph, which is pretty much Philippine's Coinbase, but a lot better. With Coins.ph, you can pay your credit card bills, utility bills, telecom bills, government-related bills, insurance, etc, you name it! With that, you can also buy game credits and buy mobile load through the app. Pretty kick-ass if you ask me. Not to mention that you get a decent percentage of cashbacks(up to 10%) after every purchase.

About deposits to Coins.ph, you can deposit money to Coins.ph by simply going to a 7-Eleven store(which is pretty much almost everywhere), and using their digital kiosk. Fees aren't that bad either.

Take note though, that even though a lot of people are using Coins.ph due to the cashbacks and convenience, it doesn't necessarily mean that a lot of people use bitcoin in the Philippines. I think a significant amount of people just use Coins.ph to pay bills using the fiat wallet, instead of the bitcoin wallet.

I think there's a decent number of people who use bitcoin to send and receive bitcoin back and forth from the Philippines to whatever foreign country, but yea, a small minority.


Government Regulations

The Philippine government is just pretty much "meh" on bitcoin. As far as I know, they haven't legalized nor illegalized bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, they pretty much just let it slip. They're more focused on closing those ponzi schemes. The government is pretty much just approving left and right the opening of crypto-related businesses. I really don't think they care that much; as long as there's more taxes to collect, they're probably happy.

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P.S. Abra and Coins.ph are the leading wallet-exchanges in the Philippines; with Coins.ph being the most well known.

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EDIT: I think I should've made this top self-moderated.