A Philippine lawmaker is pressuring her colleagues to expedite a vote on legislation that may increase the harshness of penalties for crimes that entail cryptocurrencies.
Leila M. de Lima, a senator through the Phillippines’ opposition party, on Monday urged her colleagues in making Senate Bill 1694 the # 1 priority through present legislative session.
SB 1694, first introduced by Lima in March, aims to inside penalty using a full degree for crimes which might be perpetrated using cryptocurrencies, which she says improve the overall difficulty of investigating crimes and bringing maleficent individuals justice.
In her remarks, she cited a recent Bitcoin fraud case which saw two scam artists swindle around 900 million pesos (~$50 million) from greater than 50 Philippine investors.
“Hopefully this occurrence will push my esteemed colleagues within the Senate to adopt my proposed bill seriously and help pass it into law soon. Understanding that virtual currency resembles money, and that also the possibilities with it are endless, higher penalty due to its use on illegal activities is required,” she said in a statement. “However small or big an organization, same punishment has to be given. It ought to never be uncomplicated to escape after stealing tough earned money of friends,” she said.
Lima also encouraged her colleagues to vote on SB 959, that reduce the minimum number of people needed to be in the middle of a swindling operation before defendants could face life imprisonment as well as death penalty. These days, a crime are only able to be deemed a “syndicated estafa” if at the very least five people are involved; SB 959 would reduce that number to two.
Meanwhile, the country’s Registration (SEC) has also been ramping up its cryptocurrency enforcement efforts. Earlier this week, the business issued a professional warning to 14 cryptocurrency investment schemes — that your agency claims are unregistered securities offerings — advising them they will could face penalties including fines or imprisonment whether they continue to within the country.