Blockchain Industry Continues to Grow in the Philippines

November 8, 2018. The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in the Philippines continue to grow along with the rest of the country’s FinTech community. It is currently ranked third place in the country’s FinTech Landscape with payment startups leading the pack according to a research by FinTech Singapore.

The Financial Technology industry in the country still has much room to grow despite its steady progress. With a population of 100 million, only 31% percent of adults have bank accounts. This is a good indicator that there is still a large space to fill in for FinTech innovation. In addition, the country’s mobile penetration is at 58% and online transactions are at meager 4%, a great indicator of a good FinTech playground.

The Payment Startups take 33% of space in the whole FinTech companies in the country. Second is Alternative Finance at 30% and ranking at third is Cryptocurrency and Blockchain that takes 16% of the pie.

The Crypto and Blockchain industry grew by 4% from last year’s 12%. The reason for this is more companies, both local and international, are now seeing the country as a good location to invest and grow.

We can expect the crypto and blockchain space to continuously develop in the country as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) urges banks to use blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT). FinTech companies are also encouraged to engage with banks in order to improve the delivery of banking services and promote financial inclusivity.

It is also previously reported that the BSP formed a new fintech and blockchain unit to oversee and regulate the institutions involved. The financial regulator is also getting first-hand legislation information from the International Decentralized Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (IDACB). This will help in developing a legal framework for blockchain implementation.

The growth of the FinTech industry together with the Crypto and Blockchain community means that the Philippines is moving towards financial inclusivity. This was also the theme of various speakers during the Seamless Philippines 2018 event that happened at SMX Convention Center Pasay. According to its organizer and the managing director of Terrapinn, Ms. Sharon Roessen, FinTech created a new way to connect and introduce new products and solutions to the unbanked and unserved markets.

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