Philippines’ Coins.ph hits $142.5 million trading volume in January

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Coins.ph, a Philippine-based digital asset exchange and wallet provider, reported it hit PHP 8 billion ($142.5 million) in trading volume for its over-the-counter (OTC) service TradeDesk in January.

In a press release, Coins said TradeDesk provides foreign exchange (FX) and digital currency services for businesses, financial institutions, and high-net-worth individuals.

Coins.ph holds both Virtual Currency and Electronic Money Issuer licenses from the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank.

According to Coins.ph, among its clients in TradeDesk is Seagulls, a company that helps mobile users send credit and settle bills across 100 countries worldwide.

 “Using Coins.ph’s TradeDesk has been a factor for our success,” said Jayro Franco, representative of Seagulls.

“The real-time settlement and efficiency we’ve achieved through this has allowed us to expand our reach and offer even better value to our customers,” he added.

Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph, noted that more businesses are adopting digital assets such as stablecoins.

“How Coins TradeDesk empowers Seagulls to achieve efficiency and speed in the latter’s business operations is exactly what we want to bring to other businesses in the Philippines. Digital assets such as stablecoins allow faster and cheaper settlement across borders and we see this being adopted more and more by businesses in the future,” Zhou said.

In a media roundtable last month, Zhou said the company is eyeing to double its user base by the end of 2024. The digital asset exchange currently has 18 million users in the Philippines. However, 80% of that figure is dormant.

Coins.ph on track to expand global expansion

The digital asset exchange also announced plans in January to expand its global operations further into Europe and Latin America after securing a license in Australia after it acquired an Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) digital currency exchange registration.

In 2023, the company established the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAEA) with other digital asset exchanges in Southeast Asia, such as Coinhako in Singapore, Indodax in Indonesia, and Bitkub in Thailand.

Coins.ph also received in-principle approvals for Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licenses from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius. It also has an existing license in Thailand and operates Coins.co.th.

Watch: Coins.ph—Becoming the source of liquidity for Filipinos who want to trade