Paulo del Puerto | Moneybees | 2020 Year in Review

January 14, 2021 — Every person you ask will say the same thing: 2020 is unlike any other year. 

The cryptocurrency industry felt the full brunt of the pandemic, as evidenced by the March 2020 crash. Nine months, one Bitcoin halving and a couple of institutions later, the industry sees a resurgence in interest brought about by Bitcoin hitting and breaking the psychological all-time high at $20,000 and reaching a new one of $42,000.

What is the 2020 Year in Review?

BitPinas sought the opinion of key crypto and blockchain leaders/influencers in the Philippines and abroad on what they think about 2020 in general and what they look forward to in 2021.

What does your organization do and what is your role in it?

Paulo: Moneybees lets people buy and sell crypto using almost ANY crypto wallet easily through our physical outlet partners and our online trading desk.

Please share a personal highlight for you and/or your organization this year in the crypto and blockchain space.

We received our BSP License on Feb. 2020 and shortly after, the lockdowns happened. So we had to pivot quickly and effectively since our business model was to provide OTC trading via our physical outlet partners. In order to do this, we sought the guidance and approval of the BSP. And after a month, we were able to launch our online trading channel alongside our physical outlet partners.  

What do you think is the most important blockchain/crypto development in the Philippines and globally in 2020?

In the Philippines, it’s not directly pertaining to crypto or blockchain, but I think the most important development is the wide adoption of virtual currency. With the social distancing imperative, Filipinos have become accustomed and comfortable in using virtual currency, and I believe this will eventually lead to adoption of cryptocurrency in general (without even realizing that the underlying technology is crypto and blockchain). As I’ve always believed – people don’t really need to understand how crypto or blockchain works to adopt it — they just need to be comfortable using it.

Globally, definitely Paypal adding crypto into their offering is a very important development. As with what I mentioned earlier, this paves the way for adoption of a wider user base. I believe this move by Paypal somehow removes bitcoin’s perceived “complexity” by non-techie people (i.e. the general public) and gives them a way to just buy and sell it like any other virtual good. 

How did the pandemic change how your organization operates? Or how you’ve changed your approach?

The lockdowns challenged our business model since we mainly partner with physical money service businesses to offer OTC crypto transactions. We had to quickly get the guidance and approval of the BSP to adopt our model into online. 

What is your fearless 2021 crypto prediction or forecast?

As more companies see the value (not just the price) of bitcoin, crypto and blockchain, we may see more local and global non-crypto mainstream and big tech companies follow the footsteps of PayPal by integrating crypto into their offerings.

What do you personally look forward to in this space?

Personally I look forward to what Paypal is going to do further with crypto. Currently, their implementation is still very limited – just buy, sell, and hold. There is no option to deposit nor send. Will they allow merchants to accept payments in crypto. We’ll see.

Despite the lockdowns and the sudden shift in our business, 2020 has been a good year for us as a company. And with the lockdowns becoming looser and people are adapting to the new normal, we are excited to further rollout to more of our outlet partners. Our online channel has also garnered a lot of traction so we plan to make our customer experience through our online channel even more convenient.

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This article is published on BitPinas: Paulo del Puerto | Moneybees | 2020 Year in Review