PHPC has passed the BSP's regulatory sandbox, targeting 16 million Filipinos abroad in the $40 billion remittance market.
Coins.ph, one of the largest crypto platforms in the Philippines, has just announced that the stablecoin PHPC has officially passed the testing phase in the regulatory sandbox of the Central Bank of the Philippines. The project joined the sandbox in April 2024 and after completing a rigorous oversight process, PHPC became the first officially licensed stablecoin in the Philippines, pegged to the peso and aimed at improving the efficiency of domestic digital financial services.
The launch of PHPC comes at a time when the Philippines has particularly favorable market conditions for stablecoins. Only 56% of the population had bank accounts according to 2021 data, while the BSP has licensed 12,797 pawnshops, accounting for 77.8% of the entire system, to provide remittance services. Notably, with 16 million Filipinos living abroad, the country is the fourth largest recipient of remittances globally, with $40 billion sent back in the past year according to the World Bank.
Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou stated that the company can now fully harness the potential of PHPC, particularly in areas where Filipinos need it most, such as remittances and cross-border payments. In a fragmented banking network with high costs and slow processing times, stablecoins become the optimal solution as relatives abroad can send USD stablecoins directly to Coins.ph wallets, which can then be quickly converted to PHPC to eliminate many intermediary steps.
A strict and transparent regulatory framework
The collateral for PHPC is held at domestic banks in the form of cash or cash-equivalent assets. Coins.ph is bound by independent periodic audits of reserves, smart contracts, and security infrastructure, and must report regularly to the BSP. Once the sandbox restrictions are lifted, Coins.ph can issue more PHPC to meet rising demand and support larger transactions.
PHPC is not the only stablecoin in the Philippines. Earlier this year, a stablecoin project in collaboration with domestic banks emerged called PHPX, implemented by Rizal Commercial Banking, Cantilan Bank, Rural Bank of Guinobatan, and UBX under UnionBank of the Philippines, with Just Finance as the coordinating entity.