Philipino payment app GCash planning to introduce crypto

Payment apps around the world hop on the crypto train, but some can have more impact than others. As a country relying heavily on remittances (money sent to their families by people working overseas), Philippines can benefit greatly from mainstream crypto – something that the country’s leading payment app GCash might have understood.

GCash is servicing over 40 M people and to date has only tried crypto remittances from Canada. Now the company CEO says it will consider offering the ability to buy, sell and store crypto.

Philippines is already the 3rd country in the world in terms of cryptoadoption, and making crypto even more mainstream will not only save people some hard-earned money on remittance fees, but also put the country in a position to innovate – a position that hopefully won’t be hindered by the regulators. The country’s Central Bank has taken what seems to be a healthy regulatory approach: in January it issued comprehensive guidelines for crypto services providers, noting that crypto “has the potential to revolutionize the delivery of financial services”.

Who knows, maybe the next fintech unicorn will be Filipino ?