Investing.com - Bitcoin prices rose on Wednesday on reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines is considering to allow cryptocurrency exchange platforms to operate in the country.
Bitcoin edged up 1.0% to $7,353.4 at 12:55AM ET (04:55 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange, while Ethereum fell 0.4% to $284.69.
Meanwhile, XRP traded at $0.33045, down by 0.8% in the last 24 hours on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin was up 1.3% to $67.479.
The Manila Times reported that the SEC would be working with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s central bank, to regulate the exchanges.
Citing SEC Commissioner Ephyro Lius Amatong, the Manila Times reported that the agency is likely to release draft rules later this month and that they are aiming to regulate exchanges as trading platforms as soon as they can.
“We see the need to regulate them as trading platforms,” Amatong told reporters.
“We already discussed the matter with the BSP since the BSP is also interested and we are also interested. The discussion … [involves]joint cooperative oversight over VCEs engaged in trading,” he said.
In other news, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) said the country is currency revamping its registration process for crypto exchanges.
“The state watchdog has increased the number of questions asked when screening applications to about 400 items – up fourfold,” said the FSA.
FSA commissioner Toshihide Endo then added that the new regulations are not meant to limit financial innovation in the country, and that FSA is simply aiming to see crypto industry to “grow under appropriate regulation.”