The Securities and Exchange Commission wants Calata Corp. led by businessman Joseph Calata to register a plan to list on the crypto currency exchange.
SEC Commissioner Emilio Benito Aquino said the agency would assess the risks and benefits of crypto currency.
“He has to register. If he does not, it will be a registration violation,” Aquino told reporters.
Aquino said the SEC had no rules governing crypto currency but it could apply other jurisdictions that consider digital coins as securities. He added digital currency also had benefits like lower costs.
Calata earlier bared plans to list its shares in a cryptocurrency exchange, a new solution it proposed to shareholders once the Philippine Stock Exchange decided to delist the company for multiple disclosure violations.
A cryptocurrency exchange is an online platform where one can exchange one cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency like bitcoin.
Calata said the company planned to have it shares listed in a cryptocurrency exchange in Europe over the next two months under Calcoins.
“We will be the first cryptocurrency in the Philippines that can be used for our day-to-day purchases. We will lead it and we will do it,” Calata said.
Calata will issue digital tokens or ethereum based tokens, equivalent to their shares in the company.
The SEC filed a criminal complaint against Calata and its officers and directors for making false and misleading statement in violation of the Securities Regulation Code.
Calata, a publicly-listed company, disclosed that Calata’s gaming license for the casino and entertainment complex of the Mactan Leisure City was expected to be out by the end of 2017, and that Mactan Leisure City would start operation in 2020.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. actually rejected Calata’s application for a license, saying Pagcor was already operating a casino at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Mactan, Cebu.
Calata was recently delisted by the Philippine Stock Exchange for violation of the rules on disclosure of the Exchange.