ByMichael Mislos
GM. In today’s weekly recap, we will cover: The Philippine Stock Exchange is the latest target of crypto scams.
For my foreword at the beginning of every week, I want to highlight a recent event: WOCEE 2024. Upon the invitation of Museigen.io, I was one of the co-panelists to discuss web3 to the audience.
But the highlight for me is the debate organized after the panel. We were divided into two teams discussing the topic: Is Decentralization Beneficial or Harmful? The two teams are:
Team Beneficial:
- Floi Wycoco (Coins.ph)
- Fermin Barrenechea (Museigen)
- Mike Biag (Cryptobilis)
Team Harmful:
- Myself (BitPinas)
- Nelson Lumbres (ICP)
- Patrik Ferrer (The Roundtable)
Advertisem*nt 
By the unfortunate luck of a coin flip, we found ourselves arguing against decentralization and web3. This led us to focus on the persistent challenges they face, but our main strategy to drive the point home was to emphasize that these concepts remain difficult for the general public to fully grasp.
As I mentioned in a LinkedIn post, I think we won the debate… The judges also said they admired our effort (they know we all work in web3) but have to give it to the Team Beneficial because they think web3 is the future.
I believe this was a valuable exercise for us, as it challenged the bubble we often find ourselves in, where web3 automatically = good. If given another opportunity, it’s something we could also consider organizing in the future.
And with that, let’s check out the news of the past week!
Table of Contents
Market Updates 📈
Here are the crypto highlights of the week:
- Bitcoin is up 7.5% vs the previous seven days, now at $58,533.06.
- The weekly top gainer in the top 100 coins isSui ($0.9182), up 74.0%! XD
- The weekly top loserin the top 100 is Maker ($1,889.91), down 1.9%
- Noteworthy: Toncoin ($6.17) is up 14.0% vs the past week.
Feature Story: Philippine Stock Exchange Warns Vs Crypto Scheme
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has issued an urgent warning about a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme that falsely uses its name and logo.
Why is this important: This scam targets investors by impersonating the PSE, leading them to believe they are engaging in legitimate transactions. Victims risk significant financial loss by following instructions on the fake website “https://pse-philippine.com/User/index.”
- Note: Investment scams like these are always around, often exploiting trusted names to lure unsuspecting victims.
- In 2021, it warned the public against blockchain schemes.
Key quote: The PSE said in a press release:
“The PSE categorically denies any association with this website or the promotion of cryptocurrency investments. We urge the public to exercise extreme caution.”
How the scam works:
The scam entices potential investors through online ads.
- Once they express interest, they are contacted via messaging apps and encouraged to invest more money.
- When victims try to withdraw funds, they are told they made an error and must create a new account with additional deposits.
What to watch out for:
- Be on alert for any investment offers that seem too good to be true, especially those promising guaranteed returns. Always verify the legitimacy of investment platforms directly through official PSE channels.
- The PSE advises the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious investment schemes.
- For more information, visit the PSE’s official website at www.pse.com.ph or contact them at +632 8876-4888.
Read more scam stories on BitPinas:
- Metamax completes rugpull, but rebrands to MetaQuest.
- Ben&Ben, more artists’ YouTube page compromised to promote XRP scam.
Weekly Recap: Local Crypto News 🇵🇭
- Coins.ph welcomed actress Yassi Pressman as a brand ambassador.
- Coins.ph lists the token $AIR.
- Luis Buenaventura shared his insights about the government collaboration with Venom blockchain.
- ETH63 announced an initiative offering fundamentals to ZK Proofs and SNARKs.
- The community also shared that the upcoming DevCon SEA 2024 seeks volunteers.
- Kristian Quirapas, Co-Founder and President of Web3 Philippines won 1st place in the Global Solana Talent Olympics.
- Paytaca announced a new merchant partner in Ormoc City—Sugar Cafe.
- New partners in Tacloban City—MK Kopi and Rolyn’s Pizza House.
- The firm shared that it now has 80 merchants in the Philippines (plus 1 in Hong Kong) accepting peer-to-peer BCH payments via Paytaca POS.
- PDAX pledged ₱200k worth of Pax Gold (PAXG) to Olympic champion Carlos Yulo.
- On August 9, the exchange started supporting USDT on the CELO network,
- Superteam PH announced that the Solana Blockchain Campus Conference will be on October 10-11 in Davao City.
- BlockchainSpace partnered with Ninja Game Guild.
Educational Corner 🎓
Last week’s feature articles for beginners:
- Beginners Guide to Peso Cost Averaging
- Crypto Wallets: Your Guide to Secure and Smart Storage
Updated:
- List of Free Telegram Games with Potential Airdrop
Blockchain in PH:
- Discover why the Philippines chose Venom Foundation to digitize billions of forms as they embrace blockchain technology.
Regulation Watch 📜
Stay informedabout the latest regulatory updates from here and around the world and what they mean for you:
- New PH SEC advisories: TRADEEXPERT and Modesto Cardano Market Cap Tr3ding Services.
- Australian police probed 2,000 exploited crypto wallets.
- The French financial regulatory authority begun accepting applications for authorization as a crypto asset service provider (CASP) under the European MiCA Regulation.
- Binance challenged an $86 million tax show cause notice issued by India’s Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence.
- Canadian crypto trading platforms (CTPs) must finalize their membership with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) by the upcoming deadline.
- Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated that India has no immediate plans to regulate cryptocurrency.
- The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) warned national regulators to closely scrutinize non-EU digital asset firms seeking EU authorization under the MiCA regulation.
- The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued further guidance to help crypto firms comply with promotional regulations.
- The FCA also issued over 1,000 warnings to crypto firms since October last year, resulting in the removal of 48 apps from app stores.
- The IMF is working with El Salvador to address fiscal and financial stability risks related to Bitcoin.
- Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) stated that it is approaching the approval of crypto-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with caution.
US Regulatory updates
- A new bill in the U.S. wants to give more power to the Secret Service to pursue crypto crime.
- The U.S. SEC urged a New York court to deny Coinbase’s “breathtakingly broad” subpoena request for SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s emails.
- Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and crypto critic Molly White filed a complaint with the FEC alleging Coinbase violated campaign finance laws.
- District Judge Analisa Torres reduced the SEC’s penalty request against Ripple Labs by 94% to $125 million.
- FTX and Alameda Research have been ordered to pay $12.7 billion to creditors by a New York judge.
Community Spotlights 🔦
The following people were feature in last week’s community spotlights:
- Nelson Lumbres, the lead of ICP in the Philippines. (August 6)
- Jen Bilango, Coins.ph Country Manager. (August 7)
- Yassi Pressman, Coins.ph Ambassador. (August 8)
- Michael Angelo Biag, Co-Founder of CryptoBilis. (August 9)
At the Scene 📍
On the ground activations and more:
- Coins.ph New Ambassador Announcement Press Conference:
- World of Consumer Electronics Expo (WOCEE):
- Conn3ct: Crypto & Blockchain – Cebu
- Hedera Davao Meetup
More Web3 and AI News💡
Discover the latest in web3 and AI innovation.
- Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum is ready to support tens of millions of on-chain users.
- Solana DeFi trading volume tops Ethereum.
- Prediction markets are booming.
- Zircuit launched the initial phase of its mainnet alongside rolling out the first stage of ZRC token airdrop.
- CoinStats partnered with FIO Protocol to offer free Web3 handles.
- Orbler partnered with MintSwap to enhance Web3 trading.
- Ark Invest bought 93,797 Coinbase shares worth $17.8 million.
- OKX Ventures and Aptos Foundation launched a $10 million fund named Ankaa.
- Sony Bank launched the CONNECT app, allowing users to collect, store, and trade NFTs.
- KuCoin announced a partnership with Everest Ventures Group (EVG) to drive community growth and enhance crypto adoption.
- Solana-based DePIN project Andrena raised $18 million to develop DAWN.
- A study by Aventus and Airport Perishables Handling at Heathrow Airport shows that Web3 solutions can cut cargo handling costs for airlines by up to 7%.
Web3 Gaming Section 🎮
The future of web3 is gaming, and here are the latest news.
- BitPinas article: Pixels Guild Crop Wars concluded.
- Shardbound launches new event.
- ICYMI: Why Hamster Kombat and Catizen delayed airdrop.
- Animoca Brands collaborated with Revolving Games to develop a decentralized gaming ecosystem.
- Metacade integrated the $CHUCK meme token into its gaming ecosystem.
- Angelic launched its alpha test today on the Saga blockchain.
- TON’s head of gaming, Inal Kardan, revealed that 20% of Telegram users are now engaging with games.
- SKALE Labs Chief Growth Officer Andrew Saunders predicted that many crypto clicker games will see a significant user drop-off once tokens are released.
- Ubisoft partnered with Arbitrum and Sequence to develop “Captain Laserhawk: the G.A.M.E,”.
- Web3 game studio Curio raised $5.7 million.
- Gala Music launched Music Miner, a “clicker style” game on Telegram.
- Spaceport collaborated with a division of the South Korean gaming company Com2uS to introduce its IP to Roblox and Fortnite.
Upcoming Event 📅
- Bitget Crypto Experience Day Philippines: August 17, 2024
Noteworthy🌟
Key updates and announcements from around the crypto and blockchain world:
- Hong Kong police arrested four people, including a 14-year-old, for allegedly using fake banknotes to swindle HK$11 million ($1.4 million) from cryptocurrency owners since October 2023.
- A North Korean national, Rim Jong Hyok, was indicted by a U.S. grand jury for ransomware attacks on hospitals, with charges including hacking, extortion, and money laundering.
- HSBC Australia restricted payments to cryptocurrency exchanges due to increasing concerns about scams, following similar measures by other major Australian banks.
- WazirX, facing backlash over a $230 million hack, proposed a fund recovery strategy allowing users to access 55% of their tokens while converting the remaining 45% into stablecoins.
- Elon Musk expressed on the X Takeover podcast that he sees some merit in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies following Donald Trump’s keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, however, he emphasized that he only promotes crypto in a joking manner.
- A 29-year-old Bitcoiner was kidnapped and murdered in Kyiv by four assailants who stole $200,000 worth of bitcoin.
- A crypto wallet associated with the U.S. Department of Justice transferred $2 billion worth of confiscated bitcoin to an unidentified wallet, later splitting the funds into two separate addresses, according to Arkham Intelligence data.
- NFT artists Brian Frye and Jonathan Mann sued the SEC to clarify whether NFTs fall under the agency’s jurisdiction as securities.
- Compound DAO reached a truce with the Goldenboys, who had taken control of $25 million worth of COMP tokens through a governance vote, resulting in the return of the tokens in exchange for a proposal to share fees with COMP holders.
- Jefferies suggested that Bitcoin’s price could be influenced by the outcome of the U.S. election due to recent policy shifts and promises from Trump to support the crypto industry.
- Solana’s decentralized exchanges are seeing significant trading volume and user growth, surpassing Ethereum’s DEX activity.
- Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust, a spin-off of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), began trading on Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. ET under the ticker symbol “BTC” following SEC approval.
- After delivering a keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, former U.S. President Donald Trump promoted limited edition Bitcoin-themed sneakers on social media, highlighting their availability for purchase with Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
- Fidelity International listed its bitcoin-backed exchange-traded product (ETP), the Fidelity Physical Bitcoin ETP (FBTC), on the London Stock Exchange.
- Tether reported a $5.2 billion net profit for the first half of 2024, with its USDT stablecoin fully backed and over-collateralized by $5.3 billion, while its reserves reached $118.4 billion.
- Bybit ceased offering its products and services in France due to stricter licensing regulations.
- Montenegro’s court of appeals has ruled to extradite Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to South Korea, rejecting the United States’ request.
- Ripple will allocate $10 million to tokenized U.S. Treasury bills on the XRP Ledger, marking the first such issuance on the platform and contributing to a broader fund for tokenized T-bills provided by OpenEden and other issuers.
Stay Connected:
- Follow us on Twitter 🐦
- Check us out on Facebook!
- Join our Telegram group for real-time discussions!
We’d love to hear from you! Reply with your thoughts or questions.
This article is published on BitPinas: PSE Warns Public of Fake Website Offering Crypto Trading | Weekly News Recap
