Phlippines’s Crypto Exchange Adds More Coins as it Reaches 5 Million Users
In a country where many citizens struggle with severe economic conditions and poor financial services and about half of the population living on less than $2 a day, a recent announcement that 5 million Philippines citizens are now dealing in crypto currencies may come as a surprise to many. This especially as the country’s central bank’s estimates for 2017 show a whopping 86 per cent of the population remains unbanked.
“We are excited and proud to provide 5 million customers with access to financial services. Our focus on creating financial inclusion to all Filipinos has propelled our growth to date,” as explained by co-founder Ron Hose founder of Coins.ph.
These facts stand more as feature for cryptocurrency adoption than enthusiasm. Money is already digitized for all intents and purposes for relatively smooth economies in the West. In the Philippines, the search is for money that ‘works’ and works well.
In order for Filipinos to become one’s own bank, thus, depending less on financial legacy permission and trust, a peer-to-peer currency out of view of its well-known corrupt government looks like the best idea if Coins.ph numbers are any indication.
Speaking recently, CEO Ron Hose said, “Millions of our customers have already used Coins.ph’s web and mobile apps to access a wide array of financial services.” He added that customers can now do a range of financial transactions with digital currencies, all without needing bank accounts.
The company was founded by Runar Petursson and Mr. Hose, who are both Silicon Valley veterans. Their services are a way for Filipinos to become banked, which will open up a huge market in the south-east Asian country of more than 104 million people. As at now, the company is said to have raised a total of $10 mil in the past two years, in venture capital funding. This is an indicator that investors believe the company is “on” to something.
Users have access to many features such as remittance services on the company’s platform.
The company, in an attempt to respond to consumer demand for additional blockchain-based services, said they now accept Ether (ETH) in addition to Bitcoin core (BTC) “with an eye for future smart contract based financial services, and will also begin supporting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) next month, in an effort to support lower cost blockchain based payments.”
