Tacloban City-based cryptocurrency payments firm Paytaca is expanding its footprint as a digital wallet provider in the Philippines, signing up more than 300 merchants that accept Bitcoin Cash as payment.
The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) arrested eight individuals in a coordinated nationwide operation targeting the illegal online sale of e-wallet accounts, authorities said.
Twenty-five years since its founding in 2000 as Smart Money and nine years after its rebrand as PayMaya in 2019, and three years after its subsequent overhaul as Maya in 2022, the PLDT-owned e-wallet firm has finally achieved net income profitability in the first quarter of 2025.
A new report from Nomura Research Institute (NRI) has shown the remarkable preference for e-wallets among Filipinos, undeterred by the issues they have encountered in the ever-evolving digital payment landscape.
Senate Bill 2171 seeks to declare the commission of large-scale offenses or the use of a mass mailer as a form of economic sabotage and a heinous crime, punishable with life imprisonment and a fine ranging from P1 million to P5 million.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said that online scammers usually use or buy SIM cards in the black market that are registered with e-wallets under people who sell or lend their identities.
Senators have called on authorities and financial institutions to closely monitor e-wallet providers whose platforms are allegedly being used by minors to place bets on e-sabong or online cockfighting.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has also reminded banks and e-wallet providers to enhance their surveillance and monitoring measures to deter digital vote-buying and selling schemes in relation to the upcoming elections in May 2022.
