SEC says Calata must register cryptocurrency

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said yesterday that businessman Joseph Calata, chairman of Calata Corp. needs to register with the commission the digital coins he plans to list on the cryptocurrency exchange.

In a briefing yesterday, SEC Commission Emilio Benito Aquino said while the SEC is still studying cryptocurrency and its benefits and risks, Calata needs to register with the SEC his plan so that regulators could assess the risks involved.

He said any company that will seek money from Filipino investors needs to register with the Commission.

“He has to register. If he does not, it will be a registration violation,” Aquino told reporters.

Aquino conceded that the SEC still does not have rules governing crypto currency and block chain technology but the direction is to replicate other jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and Thailand that consider digital coins as securities.

At the same time, he recognized that digital currency has benefits such as lower costs.

In a recent briefing, Calata unveiled his plans to list on the cryptocurrency exchange where every cryptocurrencies in the world are being exchanged.

He said Calata Corp. would issue digital token or ethereal based token equivalent to the ownership of Calata stock.

“A digital token is similar to issuing a check in a digital form. The holder of the token has the right to claim the underlying asset. Any transferrable asset such as a car, a house or a computer, or also intangible assets such as property rights and licenses can be represented through digital tokens,” Calata earlier said.

Furthermore, he said if a company issues digital tokens for its stocks, the receiver of these tokens has the right to claim these stocks in exchange for the tokens.

His plan to list on the crytocurrency exchange comes on the heels of the Philippine Stock Exchange’s decision to delist Calata Corp. for its alleged failure to disclose material information.

Meanwhile, Calata Corp. reported a 15 percent decrease in net income in the first nine months due to higher costs incurred on the movement of its higher value products.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the firm recorded a net income of P110.057 million in the January to September period, down from P129.260 million in the same period last year.

The company’s total revenue in the first nine months reached P2.051 billion, up from P1.879 billion in the comparative period last year. Calata attributed it to the expansion of its distribution network in Ilocos, Isabela, Aurora, Batangas, Quezon, and Bicol region.

Cost of sales, however, rose to P1.776 billion in the January to September period from P1.570 billion in 2016.

The PSE recently approved the delisting of the troubled agricultural company. Trading of Calata shares remain suspended until the effective date of delisting.

Calata faced delisting after the PSE said the company violated 55 of PSE’s disclosure requirements from Oct. 6, 2016 to June 20.

The PSE said Calata did not make the appropriate disclosure of its disposition of shares by the company’s directors and principal officers.

Company chairman and chief executive officer Joseph Calata earlier said his company would not be able to make a tender offer to minority shareholders, saying this would send the company to bankruptcy, offering instead to exchange the company’s shares for cryptocurrencies. – With Czeriza Valencia