Philippine Peso Stablecoin $PUSO Launched on Celo Blockchain

The Celo Philippines DAO, in collaboration with digital assets solution platform Mento Labs, introduced $PUSO, a community-led decentralized stablecoin pegged to the Philippine Peso on the Celo blockchain.

What’s the significance: The launch of $PUSO aims to promote financial inclusion, reduce transaction fees, promote blockchain-based remittances, and empower local innovation in the Philippines. (Read more: Celo Philippines DAO Established, Unveils Future Plans)

Key details:

• Name: $PUSO comes from the Filipino word “puso,” which is translated as”heart” in English.
  • According to Celo Philippines DAO, the name reflects the community-driven initiative.
• Entities Involved:
  • Developed by Mento Labs
  • Governed by Celo Philippines DAO
  • Fully integrated with the Mento platform
• Purpose: To provide a decentralized stablecoin pegged to the Philippine Peso, reducing crypto exchange fees and creating more efficient remittance processes.
• Why in PH? The stablecoin taps into the country’s rapidly growing user base and high remittance volumes, offering an essential entry point to web3 without reliance on centralized financial institutions
• Liquidity: The Mento Asset Exchange facilitates $PUSO trading with no need for pre-provided liquidity, enabling swaps between $PUSO and other major currencies like $USDT and $USDC.
• How will it work: $PUSO tokens will be minted and burned during trades.

Key quote:

“The $PUSO stablecoin will act as a universal entry point for users in the Philippines to access the web3 and crypto world. It is estimated that there are nearly 10 million Filipino crypto-holders. The Philippines’ cryptocurrency trading volume was estimated at $80B by Chainalysis in 2023. However, centralized exchange fees remain high due to low liquidity. The average PHP-to-ETH fee at licensed local exchanges is over 1.5%. We believe that a universally available PUSO stablecoin that is integrated at the Mento broker could compress these fees.”

Celo DAO Philippines

What to watch: Adoption rates of $PUSO in everyday transactions as the success of this stablecoin could set a precedent for other community-led stablecoins in the region.

What’s next: As per Celo DAO PH, with $PUSO, its focus will shift to expanding the stablecoin’s use cases, driving merchant adoption, and integrating the stablecoin into local and international exchanges.

Worth reading: Recently, the Celo Philippines DAO was officially established following the approval of a proposal aimed at expanding blockchain education and community engagement in the country.

This article is published on BitPinas: Philippine Peso Stablecoin $PUSO Launched on Celo Blockchain

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