Roehl Niño Bautista · · 1 min readPhilippine central bank orders halt on social media platform Lyka’s payment system ops
The Central Bank of the Philippines (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or BSP) has ordered social media platform Lyka to cease its operation of payment system (OPS) activities.
BSP also invited the Hong Kong-based firm to register under the National Payment Systems Act, according to a statement.
The central bank’s monetary board categorized Lyka features that let users earn and exchange in-app gems as OPS activities, since this digital currency can also be used to pay for off-app products and services. One Lyka gem has a value of one Philippine peso.
Users can accummulate Lyka gems just by interacting with other people’s posts on the platform. The company has already expressed willingness to register as OSP, according to the same statement.
Lyka rose to popularity after a wave of Filipino celebrities posted about the app, with beginners getting five gems and verified accounts getting 15,000 gems, according to local tech blog YugaTech. A report from news outlet Rappler cited model Ivana Alawi’s post about buying a Ford vehicle with Lyka gems as an example of an influencer-driven boost. Celebrity and Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach also bought a Mini Cooper using the said digital currency.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Eileen C. Ang
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
