There's a new Bitcoin bill in the Philippines that aims to buy 10,000 BTC for the national reserve. This move by the government is pretty significant since they're looking to invest in Bitcoin and include it in their national assets. It's clear that Bitcoin's acceptance is on the rise, and this could be a way for the Philippines to boost its economy through Bitcoin investments. In the long run, Bitcoin might play a crucial role in diversifying financial assets. This initiative is actually the first of its kind in Asia, and it’s a big step for the Filipinos, who are pushing this proposal through their legislative process.
The bill by Representative Miguel Luis R. Villafuerte wants the government to buy 10,000 to 2,000 BTC yearly for five years. The Bitcoins will be held for twenty years in a decentralized wallet controlled by the Central Bank and may be sold for profit-making. This is a welcome development as the news will increase Bitcoin awareness and adoption not just in the Philippines but in neighboring countries. I hope they will keep the coin longer than twenty years, considering that gold reserves have been part of the country's financial history.
I commend the efforts of the Philippines in their desire to become amongst those who are establishing a Bitcoin reserve as this would elevate their economic sovereignty and would also help to reshape the Philippines approach to financial resilience.
Although the bill is yet to be passed into law and is currently pending, this act shows that day by day, countries are beginning to see the need and importance of owning a Bitcoin reserve.
Yes, they have decided to buy 10,000 Bitcoins in five years by buying at least 2,000 Bitcoins every year. The bill also states that one of them will be under the central bank. And this holding will be for at least 20 years. If it is passed in parliament, it will unlock economic opportunities for the Philippines. This reserved Bitcoin will make a big contribution to protecting the Philippine economy from inflation in the future. Many countries in Asia are currently attracted to Bitcoin, notably Japan, China, India and the Philippines are joining it. Hopefully, Bitcoin will gradually gain acceptance in all countries of the world.
As far as I know they are very friendly to Bitcoin and other crypto although as of late they have banned 10 crypto exchange because of regulations.
https://www.idnfinancials.com/news/56446/philippines-blocks-10-crypto-exchanges-bybit-and-bitget-blacklisted
But it doesn't mean that they are turning their back to Bitcoin. It's a small country as compare to those nations who have stack up Bitcoin already. But for sure this is a very welcoming news for us and they could lead the South Asean region to embrace Bitcoin and put it as a national reserve.
This will be the worst time ever that any Bitcoin holder would think bitcoin will crash in the way it's used to, the past two-three Bitcoin bull/bear market cycles, rather we will definitely be seeing more and more countries start to go in this directions. The Philippines government has done the right move. There's definitely what this government are beginning to see about Bitcoin in the future, as Bitcoin is gradually gaining government/country adoption.
10000 BTC is good for a start, I believe the country will make this into law and likely they will buy more in the future. Bitcoin is now an asset that is very relevant in the world, many countries will not want to miss out. Any country that buy bitcoin early may see 10x in the next 10 to 15 years and which is a good return instead of holding dollars or other foreign currencies like pounds and euro that are inflationary.
This would be a great step for the Philippines if the bill is passed and approved, as it would be a definitive step in utilizing the national reserve for the country's economic needs through the concept of Bitcoin acceptance. Bitcoin's widespread adoption has led some countries to consider strategic reserves. Although gold was once a reserve used by all countries, Bitcoin is now a viable option for many decisions.
The legislature will ultimately review the bill before taking action, and I am confident that many will support the process as it begins to be drafted. This initiative has good long-term goals, and the Philippines could become one of the countries that achieve financial freedom if it can implement this strategy.
The bill was just filed by Rep. Miguel Luis R. Villafuerte yesterday and it is a huge step forward not only for the Philippines but also for bitcoin. But like bills to establish strategic Bitcoin reserves in other countries like Brazil, Czech Republic or Pakistan or the United States. All are still just ideas or have been proposed but not yet passed by Congress. So it's still too early to say anything.
But if they can pass the bill, the Philippines would be the third country to have a strategic bitcoin reserve, after Bhutan and El Salvador. Let's wait and see the results.
Wonder shall never end in the land of the living, isn't this the same Philippine that has banned gambling that are now considering the use of bitcoin for strategic reserve, i hope that the house does not fight against this one as well the same way they did to gambling.
I also want to believe that this is coming as a result of many institutions and governments taking advantage on bitcoin as national reserve currency, which they all are getting to understand how this same currency can be used to secure the future against inflation and many other economic challenges they may face later in the future, very soon, we are hoping to see them accepting bitcoin as a legal tender in mass.
Although its not too late, the Philippine government should have started this years ago, when they legalized Bitcoin. This is only a bill; numerous obstacles will arise before it gets approved, followed by extensive deliberation and debate, and it should pass in the third reading. After that, it will go to the upper chamber for more deliberations.
The congressman who proposed the bill should also have a supporter in the upper chamber, for it to have a chance to be deliberated.
This bill is a long shot, but Im hoping it will have staunch supporters. However, with so many priority bills lining up, it will take a few years before this will see a light in the floor of the session hall.
The Philippines can actually afford to invest in that. Just look at the current issue.. P1 trillion pesos from the flood control project reportedly went straight into the pockets of corrupt officials. Thats now under investigation in the Senate. If we convert that P1 trillion, its roughly $17.6 billion USD. If corruption gets cleaned up, it would be easy for the country to buy that much Bitcoin and even more.
Im really disappointed that top politicians, especially lawmakers, are involved in this kind of large-scale corruption. Reports say out of the 100% budget, only 30 to 40% goes to the actual project, while the rest ends up with corrupt officials and contractors.
10,000 Bitcoin is very good for a start for a country like Philippines. But the Philippines is a democratic country and with this they are hoping to keep bitcoin as a reserve for as long as possible but the fear they should focus on is that the next government after this will carry on what has been started.
The Philippines are not only interested in having a bitcoin reserve they are also trying to discourage scammers and any other dark side of cryptocurrency
https://dig.watch/updates/philippines-cracks-down-on-unregistered-crypto-exchanges
According to this article they are hot on the heels of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges.
Im from Philippines and this is very good news as Bitcoin enthusiasts however passing this bill will be very considering thats theres huge amount of money involved while our country doesnt have any strong support on Bitcoin investment.
Maybe this will be approved on the next administration if ever there will be a change on political views since Philippines is now undergoing a major purging on corruption politicians with their malicious projects.
Twenty years is a long time storage imo, considering the condition of Philippine. I doubt that the country is ready for such a long term investment because we are not about to talk about Philippine recognize bitcoin as a commodity or as a legal tender. It's just a bitcoin reserve by the hope of recognize it later. Therefore, what may forbid next Parliaments during the next twenty years not to stop storing bitcoin or to use that store for other purposes earlier than twenty years? If the country doesn't recognize bitcoin or any of its use, i will always doubt all those initiatives.
Let them buy first then we can afterwards question if they can be so resolved enough to wait for 20 years form the period they bought if the plan wouldn't be affected political changes because acquiring 10,000 bitcoin is a huge funds to be covered for a country like the Philippines considering it's size and as a lower-middle income country. Though It's a welcome development diversifying away from gold to bitcoin, not just for the phillippines but to the Asian continent because it's starting to look like they're more serious in the bitcoin reserve race for the future.
I am not from there, so I have no idea about politics and politicians over there.
But, I have been alive enough and saw so many politicians all around the world so far that I can tell you that I have seen people be very careless and make so many mistakes.
It's basically obvious that we have seen things change all the time, and that is the most important difference. That is why if we could see these type of wild stuff, then we may see it go away too, it's just the way politicians are and there isn't anything to change that.
Of course this isn't easy, and we will end up with a lot of differences, because it may also happen a bit and stop too, but I do not think they will buy 10k+ bitcoins, that's just not going to happen.
While it's good for the bitcoin community let's hope it has the proper traceability and accountability, so that no politicians can abuse this vast reserve by stealing some of it. I wonder whether they have a long term goal for these funds, whether they will treat it like gold and hold it, or they will sell it in staggered tranches over time. I wonder if they have other things that they could be spending that $1 billion on right now, because there is a lot of poverty in the country right now. Crypto is still the buzzword of the generation, so politicians will often latch on to these ideas in the hopes it will boost their popularity, but don't actually have any idea on why they should be doing it
It would cost $1,150,000,000 to purchase the proposed amount of Bitcoin as a national reserve at a purchase price of $115,000.
The Philippine Congress is beginning to recognize the importance of holding Bitcoin as a national reserve to address global economic uncertainty. We do not know what will happen to the global economy in the future, but we can anticipate that the value of fiat currency will continue to decline each fiscal year.
Support is needed for the proposal to purchase Bitcoin in that quantity to be used as a national reserve.
Superb. Thank you for providing more details. It sounds like a good plan from the government. And of course there are so many upsides to this for Bitcoin as well as for those of us in the community. I look forward to reading the news of the government buying its first Bitcoin. I hope it is published in the news because it will be such a historic moment.