Reiterating the need for curbs on crypto activity

IN the aftermath of the fraud-driven collapse in mid-November of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, at the time the world's second largest, we urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to adopt tougher measures to protect Filipino investors from being ruined by trading in cryptocurrencies. While the BSP has indeed consistently tried to warn investors of the risks of the unregulated, unsecured and highly volatile so-called digital assets, the recommendation to take even stronger steps to curtail cryptocurrency activity — and perhaps ban it altogether in the Philippines — has become more urgent and bears repeating in light of recent developments.