A TOP cryptocurrency leader sees the potential of Cebu having a growing number of crypto investors.
Kenneth Stern, general manager for the Philippines of Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange platform, was in Cebu last week to meet the crypto community here.
Stern believes there’s a growing interest among Cebuano investors to explore the opportunities in crypto trading.
“Binance is seeing lots of activity in Cebu, and it’s starting to establish itself as a city with many strong founders in the crpyto space,” Stern said.
Binance also seeks to enable Cebu’s efforts to become a leading technology hub in the country through exploring collaborations with the local government here.
He said part of their goal is to support both government and local communities in Cebu in getting better access to financial services.
Binance is actively looking to support charities and non-government organizations whose focus is aligned with financial inclusion push.
Stern said the crypto industry can greatly benefit the Filipino people by addressing the necessity of financial inclusion through digitalization, allowing Filipino users access to digital wallets and offering digital finance solutions.
Digital wallets create a gateway into digital assets, and cryptocurrency furthering the freedom of money will allow more Filipinos an opportunity to experience world-class financial products.
Unregulated
Cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency registered in a digital database called a blockchain. These digital assets are not issued by central banks, thus carry with them all the risk and rewards of an unregulated currency.
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that users store or hold in a digital wallet, either on their own or via exchanges such as Binance. These assets can be accessed anytime and anywhere — as long as the user has an internet connection.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), that has been issuing licenses to crypto exchange platforms operating in the Philippines, wants digital payments to make up 50 percent of all transactions both in volume and value by 2023 under its financial inclusion roadmap.
The central bank also wants the country to become a cashless society by 2025.
BSP data showed that the volume of cryptocurrency transactions grew 362 percent year on year to nearly 20 million in the first half of 2021.
These transactions were worth P105.93 billion, data showed. The local demand for crypto is also rising with a study by Finder Crypto reporting that the Philippines ranks fifth worldwide in terms of ownership, with 28 percent of adults saying they own cryptocurrency.