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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas warned the public that play-to-earn online games have the potential of being involved in illicit financial activities, despite recognizing that such platforms have the potential to improve the financial inclusion and digital payments of Filipinos.

In a statement, the Philippine central bank said:

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) advises those engaging in these games to be thoroughly aware of how these work as the digital space provides a borderless and wider playing field for fraudsters or cyber criminals to carry out illicit financial activities,

Back in August, the BSP noted that Axie Infinity, one of the hottest play-to-earn online games in the country, are not registered yet and they are keeping a close eye on them.

For those who are not familiar, Axie Infinity allows players to earn Smooth Love Potions (SLP) while playing the game. SLPs can be converted to real money. As of writing, an SLP is valued around Php3.55.

Melchor T. Plabasan, BSP’s Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department lead, said that they are still looking at SLP being used as a payment scheme.

In its latest statements, BSP asks players to be cautious when using play-to-earn games as it poses a potential for abuse.

As per the BSP, digital gaming token transactions have a high degree of anonymity and are not subject to Know Your Customer policies.

That said, the central bank warned that such activities are prone to theft, hacking, and cyber threats since it involves virtual assets. This also makes filling complaints related to such cases difficult.

Besides security, BSP also noted how volatile digital tokens are. They warned of the possible risk of losses and lack of legal protection that end users may face.

Related

To help address these possible issues, the BSP is working closely with other departments like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create a coordinated approach in dealing with cryptocurrency and virtual assets.

The BSP reiterated such technological innovation will improve the financial inclusion and payments digitalization in the country, for as long as it is harnessed in a responsible manner.

Via: Business World

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