Philippines’ Central Bank Gives Approval to Coins.ph to Pilot Stablecoin in Key Remittance Market

As a researcher with a background in fintech and experience in following the developments in the Asian financial markets, I’m excited to share my perspective on the recent approval of Coins.ph’s Philippine Peso-backed stablecoin pilot by the Philippines’ central bank.

Last week, Coins.ph announced that the Philippines’ central bank has granted approval for us to trial a new stablecoin named PHPC, which is pegged to the Philippine Peso.

The program falls under the regulatory sandbox of the BSP and is supported by Coins.ph’s cash and cash equivalents kept in Philippine banks. During this trial, the stablecoin will be evaluated for its practical uses and examined for any potential effects on the current financial infrastructure.

Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph and former CFO of Binance, shared during a recent press conference that they received approval to publicly trial their stablecoin in April. They aim to launch this new offering on their platform by early June, according to local news sources.

Zhou announced that the pilot’s performance would be closely watched. Should specific benchmarks be achieved, they look forward to securing final approval, enabling them to progress beyond the experimental phase.

The Philippines has recently prohibited Binance from conducting its operations within the country. Simultaneously, they have announced their intention to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) on a nationwide scale within the next two years, bypassing a retail CBDC in the process. Meanwhile, Strike, a digital payments company, has broadened its global money transfer services to cater to the Philippines’ substantial $12 billion remittance market, which is among the largest in the world.

Coins.ph intends to add a stablecoin to remittance services in nations with substantial remittances to the Philippines, according to a report.