Philippines Climbs to Second Spot in Southeast Asian Crypto Interest

• CoinGecko study reveals the Philippines as Southeast Asia’s second most interested country in cryptocurrency, closely trailing Singapore.
• Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia contribute moderately to crypto interest in the region, accounting for 14.7% of regional crypto interest per capita.
• The Philippines shows strong interest in GameFi tokens, particularly Axie Infinity’s Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Ronin (RON), while Wemix (WEMIX) also gains popularity as a stablecoin on the game MIR4.

CoinGecko, an independent cryptocurrency aggregator, revealed in its recent study that the Philippines, just a few percentage below Singapore, is Southeast Asia’s second most interested in cryptocurrency. 

CoinGecko’s Crypto Interest Philippines

In a media release, CoinGecko highlighted that Singapore and the Philippines dominate crypto interest in the region year to date (YTD), with Singapore capturing a 43.5% share and the Philippines at 40.3% on a per capita basis.

Following the large gap from the two countries, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia make moderate contributions to crypto interest in Southeast Asia in 2023. Together, these countries account for 14.7% of regional crypto interest per capita YTD. 

In addition, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos, and Timor-Leste only collectively account for a mere 1.5% share of regional crypto interest per capita. CoinGecko noted that these nations are potential untapped markets for the crypto industry. However, due to their lower-middle income status, except for Brunei, it is unlikely that the state of crypto adoption in these countries will improve in the near future, Coingecko said.

Top Cryptocurrencies in the Philippines

With the Philippines being one of the most web3 game focused countries–even called as play-to-earn game Axie Infinity’s capital–CoinGecko said the country’s three most popular cryptocurrencies remain GameFi tokens. These include Axie Infinity’s Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Ronin (RON), which continue to maintain their popularity despite a decline in hype in other regions and price decrease.

Recently, local crypto exchange and wallet Coins.ph supported the community-driven $RON validator node. The exchange as well as Philippine Digital Assets Exchange (PDAX) are also supporting SLP and Axie Infinity Shards (AXS).

The other top token was Wemix (WEMIX), a stablecoin that runs on the cryptocurrency game MIR4. Last February, Myrtle Sarrosa’s fan token, MYRTLE, exceeded a market cap of $100 million on WEMIX PLAY a day after it was minted.

Previous Crypto Studies in the Philippines

Last January, CoinGecko unveiled the top 10 cryptocurrencies most frequently viewed by its users from the Philippines in 2022. SLP took the top spot while WEMIX was 10th. 

In 2022, a survey conducted by Finder across 26 countries, the Philippines secured the 4th position globally in terms of non-fungible token (NFT) adoption. The study further unveiled that 25% or one in every four Filipinos actively participated in play-to-earn (P2E) NFT games.

In another survey, 32% of respondents expressed their willingness to quit their current jobs or contemplate resigning from their professional positions if given the opportunity to engage in NFT games as a full-time pursuit.

The Current State of Crypto in the Philippines

According to the 2021 Q4 global survey conducted by GWI (formerly GlobalWebIndex), the Philippines holds the second position in cryptocurrency ownership. The survey findings indicate that 22.7% of Filipino respondents reported owning and using cryptocurrencies. In another study by Chainalysis’ “The 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index,” the Philippines ranks second among the 20 surveyed countries in terms of crypto adoption.

However, a study by ConsenSys and YouGov found that Filipinos have limited understanding of web3 technology, with only 25% of respondents indicating familiarity with it. 

This article is published on BitPinas: Among Southeast Asian Nations, PH 2nd in Crypto Interest

Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.