Seeing the need to have an official medium of exchange or money for the Internet, a lawmaker in the Philippines filed the proposed “E-Peso Act of 2014” which also applies to all other electronic and non-electronic means of communications.
“What exists is a patchwork of methods using traditional credit systems, which act in place of money on the Internet. The E-peso is the electronic equivalent to the paper peso,” said Pangasinan representative Kimi S. Cojuangco, author of House Bill 4914.
The bill mandates the central bank of the Philippines or Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to explore and study the technology of “bitcoin and post bitcoin cryptocurrencies” to expand the knowledge base, which it will use in deciding what technology to use in E-peso.
Cojuangco said E-peso shall be recognized as legal tender and legal payment for debt, taxes, goods, and services transacted through the Internet and will be available in all banks branches operating in the Philippines.
She added the amount on circulation of the E-peso would be limited to P1 billion (US$22.4 million) in the first two years.
Under the proposed law, the BSP will also choose a system that uses peer-to-peer processing of the log chain and shall exert its utmost to leverage existing hardware being used by the other leading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
The bill likewise mandates BSP to require all bank branches to dedicate at least one computer with adequate technical specification to serve as a local peer.
And within one year from the enactment of the proposed act, an initial amount equivalent to one percent of the total amount of Philippine currency in circulation will be minted by the BSP.
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