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Union Bank of the Philippines recently became the first Philippine bank to successfully pilot blockchain-based remittance from Singapore to the Philippines. This was done in partnership with OCBC Bank, Singapore, using the Adhara liquidity management and international payments platform.

The Philippine Bureau of the Treasury, UnionBank and the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange launched a blockchain-enabled mobile application for distributing government treasury bonds. The app will allow citizens to easily invest in retail treasury bonds for as little as 5,000 Philippine pesos. App users will be able to make instant payments using internet payment services such as InstaPay, GCash and Paymaya. They can also pay through internet banking or over-the-counter payment through their UnionBank accounts

The Philippines Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) sold 15 billion pesos ($270 million) one-year tokenized treasury bonds for the first time after canceling the traditional auction scheduled for November 20, 2023. The bonds, which were issued by the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines, were sold to institutional buyers at minimum denominations of 10 million pesos with increments of 1 million pesos. The bond auction was oversubscribed by more than three times (PHP31.426 billion), pushing the BTr to upsize the offering from the original 10 billion pesos ($179 million). https://www.treasury.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TTB-Notice-of-Offering.pdf

Philippines' central bank reported that e-wallet penetration is growing faster in the Philippines and has surpassed credit card numbers.

The IMF will be collaborating with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to create a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) aimed at addressing (i) frictions on cross border foreign currency transfers; (ii) settlement risk exposure arising from the use of commercial bank money in the equities market; and (iii) challenges in operating the automated intraday liquidity facility. The BSP has decided that retail CBDC would have limited benefits for the Philippines economy due to widespread digitalization of retail payments and financial inclusion reforms. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2022/12/15/Philippines-2022-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-526983

Philippines-based UnionBank has launched a payments-focused stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso, dubbed PHX, that is being implemented on UnionBank's i2i platform.

The Philippines is anticipated to launch a standardised QR code for payments by September, according to a report by Philstar. The plan to standardise QR payments in Philippines was first announced by the late BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr in July last year.

Grab announced the launch of the GrabPay Card in the Philippines, a digital-first prepaid card powered by Mastercard. Regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), GrabPay is a mobile wallet that can be used to transact within and outside the Grab app. A 24/7 fraud detection engine encrypts and protects user personal information and payment transactions. In a survey conducted by Mastercard in the Philippines in April 2020, 40% of Filipino consumers are now using contactless payments more often in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A blockchain proof of concept for the digital issuance of retail bonds in the Philippines has been successfully completed by Standard Chartered. The global bank partnered with Union Bank of Philippines (UB) for the project which involved a 3 and 5.25 dual tranche issuance totalling PHP9bn ($187m) being successfully mirrored on the platform created by UB and SC Ventures, the innovation arm of the Standard Chartered.

UnionBank of the Philippines has raised ₱11 billion from its maiden digital peso bond offering - the first of its kind in the country. The 1.5-year bonds with a fixed per annum rate of 3.25% were issued through the digital registry/repository of Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. (PDTC) using infrastructure powered by STACS blockchain. The new digital infrastructure was kept interoperable with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp (PDEx) Fixed Income Market's traditional trading to clearing infrastructure.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is recommending several phases and "extensive" pilot projects for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) especially in cybersecurity issues, laws and regulations that will cover implementation. A wholesale CBDC is being considered in the Philippines as a possible means to enhance existing payment and settlement functions. While the BSP charter, amended in 2019, does allow for the issuance of wholesale CBDC, the regulatory framework "may need to be revisited to ensure governance and financial stability risks are addressed." https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2022/12/15/Philippines-2022-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-526983

Azimo has launched its first service using Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity solution (ODL) to send faster and cheaper cross-border payments to the Philippines, with plans to expand to more markets in 2020. The Philippines is one of the top remittance destinations globally, receiving $34 billion in 2018

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)published its "2022 Status of Digital Payments" report, highlighting the significant growth of digital payments in the Philippines, now comprising 42% of all retail payments in 2022 (versus 14% rate in 2019) and 40% in terms of value (24%). Merchant payments and person-to-person (P2P) fund transfers are the main drivers of the greater digital payments adoption, representing 74% and 15% of total digital payment volumes, respectively. These payment use-cases are high-frequency, low-value transactions.  https://www.bsp.gov.ph/SitePages/MediaAndResearch/MediaDisp.aspx?ItemId=6776

Digital payments volumes in the Philippines have grown from 1% of total payments in 2013 to 30% in 2021. A Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) case study  examines this success story by diving into the key decisions made by the government and private sector in accelerating the adoption of responsible digital payments. These included continuous evaluation of progress against transparent targets, proactive policymaking to satisfy evolving needs, and institutionalizing data systems and building internal capacity to collect and analyze data.

The Philippine Government's Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has reportedly introduced eGOVchain, a government blockchain aimed at enhancing transparency, security, and efficiency in public transactions. DICT's efforts to streamline government services are encapsulated in its five-pillar strategy under the e-Gov office. These include developing e-government platforms, assisting local and national government agencies, innovating at the grassroots level, building cloud services and aligning government information systems.

The Philippines is catching up to Japan with a growing number of approved cryptocurrency exchanges. The central bank has green-lighted 10 crypto exchanges so far.

Western Union has teamed up with blockchain startup Coins.ph to enable residents of the Philippines to more easily receive cash remittances. While Western Union has previously teased possible relationships with Ripple and Coinbase, neither came to fruition.

Bitspark, a blockchain-based bankless money transfer solution, will launch a Philippine Peso pegged cryptocurrency for money transfers dubbed "peg.PHP."

CIMB announced that its virtual bank that was launched earlier this year have secured 500,000 customers, approximately six months after opening its doors for business in the Philippines. The all-digital, mobile first bank is part of CIMB's strategy in penetrating new markets.

There are many reasons why the Philippines is becoming increasingly crypto-friendly. Not only has its central bank registered more crypto exchanges recently, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has also been actively finalizing crypto guidelines. The country has an active crypto community, and one of its largest banks has engaged in multiple crypto projects.