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Top-10 Philippine Bank Launches Its Own Fiat-Pegged Stablecoin Cryptocurrency

Last Updated March 4, 2021 2:39 PM
Benjamin Vitáris
Last Updated March 4, 2021 2:39 PM

One of the largest financial institutions of the country, the Union Bank of the Philippines, has announced the launch of its own crypto today to connect rural banks via its blockchain platform.

A blockchain platform and a fiat-pegged stablecoin

The stablecoin dubbed PHX – which is pegged to the Philippine Peso (PHP) – is already implemented on the bank’s i2i blockchain platform, the Philippines-based media outlet Philstar reported .

“PHX is a stable store of value, medium of exchange and is a programmable token with self-executing logic. It enables transparent and automatic execution of payments,” UnionBank Senior Vice President and Head of the Fintech Business Group Arvie de Vera stated to the magazine.

Three financial institutions in the Philippines – the Summit Rural Bank in Luzon, the Progressive Bank in Visayas, and the Cantilan Bank in Mindanao – have successfully completed live transactions on UnionBank’s i2i blockchain platform.

The rural banks used UnionBank’s crypto to conduct buy, transfer, and redemption transactions as well as domestic remittances.

According to Philstar – in the initial phase –, the participants of the i2i blockchain platform can purchase PHX by making direct debits from their UnionBank accounts. It is reportedly said that the processes of both converting the stablecoin to PHP and withdrawing the funds in fiat to bank accounts would be convenient for i2i users.

Connecting the unbanked of the Philippines with crypto

CCN.com reported last year that Project i2i – island-to-island, institution-to-institution, and individual-to-individual – has been piloted by five rural banks in the Philippines.

Connecting Filipinos to the banking system is vital for the country as 70% of the citizens have no access  to a checking or savings account, especially in rural communities.

It seems the UnionBank is proceeding quickly to connect the unbanked to the nation’s financial system. And the Philippines-based bank is not afraid to use innovative technology to reach its goals.

On Tuesday, the financial institution has published a press release , announcing a successful pilot of a blockchain-based remittance using UnionBank’s PHX crypto from Singapore to the Philippines.

The pilot was conducted in partnership with Singapore’s OCBC Bank, combining OCBC’s Adhara liquidity management and international payments platform with UnionBank’s i2i blockchain platform.

In February, CCN.com reported that UnionBank had launched the first crypto ATM in the Philippines, providing an easy way for local users to exchange digital and fiat currencies.