With exorbitant fuel prices and runaway inflation right on the heels of the worst pandemic and global crisis of the 21st century, it is easy to be pessimistic about the country’s economic future.
However, major global tech player Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph, believes that the Philippines is right on the cusp of something very big, very soon. Zhou, who recently acquired Coins.ph, the country’s leading digital wallet provider and crypto exchange platform with over 16 million users, was one of the co-presenters at the recent Philippine Fintech Festival hosted by Digital Pilipinas.
Digital Pilipinas is currently the largest private sector movement for creating a technology and innovation ecosystem geared to bring about technological acceleration in the country and in building an anti-fragile system in its societal structures and industries.
Speaking alongside industry leaders in the vertical, Zhou talked about why he is particularly interested in the Philippines now and why he has been pushing for massive blockchain adoption in the country. “We really need to learn blockchain, crypto, NFT, and other digital assets by using them in our day-to-day lives,” said Zhou as he encouraged event participants to adopt blockchain technology.
The perfect time to build and invest
Within the festival, a Blockchain Summit led by Coins.ph was also held where discussions on crucial topics such as the popularization of Web 3.0, the metaverse, and the role of NFTs in the people’s daily lives were raised while leaders from the government and private institutions gave their insights.
For instance, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) was able to share how regulators perceive crypto trends and provided perspectives on the execution of Web 3, blockchain, and crypto to digitalize the country.
“Blockchain technology has proven that valuable opportunities have opened up for Filipinos that wouldn’t have been possible in the past. Because of this, we look forward to partnering with like-minded organizations that push the country’s ICT agenda and supporting initiatives that can bring Web 3.0 closer to the Filipino people,” said Undersecretary Jocelle Batapa-Sigue of the DICT-ICT Industry Development Bureau.
On the other hand, Veronica Wong, CEO of SafePal, actively pushed for Web 3.0 adoption by partnering with industry leaders and builders in the ecosystem. She also emphasized the need for “better and safer technologies that will help people navigate the space more safely.”
For her part, Ling Zhang, Managing Partner at Old Fashion Research, said that “right now, in the crypto space, we’re just at the right time; not too early, not too late. It’s the perfect time to build and invest.”
Time to unlock the country’s tech potential
As the CEO of Coins.ph, Wei also spoke of his plans to make the Philippines “a leader in Web 3.0 not just in ASEAN, but globally.” He sees digital assets and blockchain technology as equalizers and a good place to start toward financial empowerment for Filipinos.
“What we need to do collectively is to make the Philippines a champion of blockchain adoption, because it is really possible. We can share our country’s model with our neighboring countries and help each other out in this game,” he said while zeroing in on endless opportunities in this blockchain-enabled space.
Seeing things from a crypto-native lens, Zhou identified crucial aspects that the country needs to thrive in the blockchain realm: “We need users, capital, and projects which will help our community to take off, and that’s what we’re seeing being built here in the Philippines.”
The crypto champion also likened the current state of the Philippines to the early stages of tech adoption in China, a significant player in the blockchain realm. He also emphasized how big the potential of our country is in becoming a technological leader, given how adept we are in rising in this disruptive tech.
Wei also drew several parallels between China just before its economy took off and rose to become the second most powerful in the world, and what is happening in the Philippines now. He mentioned the two country’s similar population structures, with the Philippines having the largest generation of young people in its history as the majority of Filipinos are now under 30.
Making crypto education more accessible and understandable
Zhou also shared some of the company’s existing efforts to ramp up crypto education. These include partnerships with Miss Universe Philippines to launch a three-part Live Crypto 101 series on the basics of blockchain and NFTs and the De La Salle University for orientation seminars and booth activations.
“We plan to do more similar events with other schools and universities in the metro. We understand that through tapping educational institutions we can influence and encourage the youth to start their journey towards digital ownership and financial empowerment.”
Zhou believes in the importance of localizing basic crypto education to expand financial inclusion here in the Philippines targeting the underbanked and the underprivileged. One of the company’s initiatives to help with this is the launch of Coins Academy, a series of introductory educational articles that are aimed at educating people on all things crypto, blockchain, and web3, and contents are available in both English and Filipino.
The company also worked with the Philippine Basketball Association to bring crypto and Web3 education to basketball fans in the Philippines through “Courtside Crypto,” a 1-minute video series that premiered on social media.
Upcoming services and activities by Coins.ph that customers can enjoy include the Coins Trade Desk for an easy and seamless trading experience; improved Coins Pro UI/UX with more cryptocurrency tokens; and the company’s metaverse participation through the Virtual Influencer Tiktok Studio to be launched in Manila.
Coins.ph recently launched the Coins Arcade, allowing users to indulge in both Web2 and Web3 gaming where they can play to earn tokens. The company also announced that Coins Pro was granted advanced Electronic Payment & Financial Services (EPFS) license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to allow its users to trade crypto with PHP spot pairs.