The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), the Philippines’ “fintech city” developer, has issued its first financial technology solutions and offshore virtual currency (FTSOVC) license to Hong Kong-based blockchain solutions firm Golden Millennial Quickpay.
CEZA Corporate Board Secretary Catherine Joy Alameda made the disclosure recently at the 2018 GMQ Global Blockchain Summit Philippines in Pasay City, noting GMQ will be locating at LR Data, a CEZA locator in Sta. Ana, Cagayan, the Philippine News Agency reported.
Officials of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, led by its Senior Deputy Administrator Raymundo T. Roquero (5th from left), and Ricky Law (6th from right) of Golden Millennial Quickpay (GMQ) Inc. Limited, Virtual Asset Exchange Legal Representative, took a group photo after GMQ became the first recipient of a license to operate in the Philippines as one of the locators of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority in Sta. Ana, Cagayan. Photo from Manila Standard.
GMQ is expected to hire around 500 personnel, particularly blockchain programmers even as it plans to bring its foreign employees for technical support, and to give training on blockchain technology, the report added.
Touted as the new business collaboration tool, blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger designed to verify transactions and creates an indelible and unchangeable record. It is the technology behind the first decentralized cryptocurrency Bitcoin. It’s not limited to financial technology but applicable across a variety of industries.
In a previous announcement, CEZA administrator and CEO Raul Lambino said they would only issue 25 FTSOVC licenses, and these companies are authorized to issue at least four regular licenses under them.
GMQ’s license, however, is provisional and valid for six months. A permanent license will be granted once the company is able to fully comply with CEZA’s requirements.
Among CEZA’s main rules requires licensees to commit to invest at least $1 million over a period of two years, and physically locate some level of their core operations in the zone (fintech city).
From the 70 applications that CEZA has received, only six of them have paid for their licenses. Applicants are required to pay $360,000 for a principal license for FTSOVC operation under CEZA, and $85,000 for a regular license.
The investment promotion agency (IPA), headed by CEZA administrator and CEO Raul Lambino, is set to issue more licenses to cryptocurrency exchange operators in the coming months.
Featured image via Manila Standard
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