As the bear market rally continues in the background, mobile wallet and payments services provider GCash is looking into cementing the Web 3.0 and cryptocurrency space in the Philippines by focusing on initiatives that will drive education and innovations.
“Crypto in the Philippines is ripe with opportunity. Awareness is really driven by friends talking about it, people reading about it, and learning about it via YouTube and TikTok. Today, interest in crypto remains high, with huge market development potential,” said Neil Trinidad, GCash VP and head of New Business.
During his presentation in the Web 3.0 educational media workshop hosted by Globe and communications firm Virtusio International, Trinidad cited several studies that revealed a high level of awareness on the concept of cryptocurrency among Filipinos (74%), a growing 16.6% adoption rate for this technology, and the country’s current standing among 157 countries for crypto adoption which is now at the 15th spot.
“These are early days and it really shows that there’s a lot of interest and a lot of potential to develop this space,” he added.
In the latest numbers of TripleA, a cryptocurrency payments gateway headquartered in Singapore, the cryptocurrency ownership data for the Philippines as of 2021 estimates over 4.3 million people or 4.0% of the country’s total population owns some type of cryptocurrency and ranks third on a global scale with the highest uptake of crypto, driven by increased awareness on cryptocurrency and interest on crypto-based investments.
The majority of the population who are leveraging on cryptocurrency technology are either living in urban regions, wealthy professionals, and individuals who use blockchain — the enabling system of cryptocurrencies, to transmit money and consequently cut the middleman out of the entire process.
“We have revealed previously that we are entering the crypto space soon and we believe this is the best time to do it. Now is the best time to build and to learn, so that as the market starts to pick up later on, more than 4 million Filipinos are prepared to finally enter and participate in the crypto space,” Trinidad remarked.
In a statement regarding this shift in attitude towards cryptocurrency, Philippine Assets and Digital Exchange CEO and founder Nichel Gaba pointed out that during the pandemic, certain events led to traditional portfolio managers deciding to consider including bitcoin and cryptocurrency, which caused an approximate 70-fold increase in transactions and 15-fold in customers for companies who were geared for adoption.
“The Globe Group of Companies has always been committed to embracing digitalization to uplift the lives of Filipinos. While Web 3.0 is still at its infancy, we are already investing in learning to harness its technologies to solve problems and serve our customers and society at large,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe’s chief sustainability and corporate communications officer.
In the course of the workshop session, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) director for Industry Development Bureau Emmy Lou Delfin also mentioned initiatives that are being pursued by the government to help educate Filipinos on Web 3.0, including the ‘Stimulating the Growth of Emerging Technologies’ (SET PH) program and the ‘Tech Trends Online Webinar Series’ hosted by the department.
“Given the dynamic nature of this emerging digital era, we welcome partnerships with stakeholders from different sectors who can help us educate Filipinos about Web 3.0, promote tech talent, and develop innovations creating positive change across the country,” Delfin said.
