Impero Group’s Emmanuel Samson talks to CoinGeek Backstage on making Bataan the Philippines’ blockchain hub

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The Philippines is emerging as a global leader in blockchain adoption. Within the Southeast Asian country, the province of Bataan is quickly establishing itself as a digital and blockchain hub and is poised to lead the Philippines in blockchain-powered digitalization, according to Emmanuel Samson of the Impero Group.

Being a special economic zone, Bataan has been moving towards digitalizing its economy in recent years. Speaking to CoinGeek Backstage, Samson noted that this shift is being led by the region’s leadership which has been very open to learning about emerging technologies and working with the private sector to grow these technologies.

Bataan’s leadership is welcoming new companies, telling them, “we want to work with you. We don’t know everything, but when you join our community, we can build around it,” Samson told CoinGeek’s Claire Celdran on the sidelines of the Global Blockchain Summit in the City of Balanga.

While it’s welcoming to startups, Bataan is keen to enforce existing regulations. The Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) insists on compliance and conducts due diligence before issuing licenses to any company in blockchain and beyond.

“With AFAB, they have all these systems in place already,” Samson noted.

Samson is the CEO and co-founder of the Impero Group, an enterprise blockchain company based in the Philippines. The company has already partnered with the AFAB on an offshore blockchain fintech solutions unit. The unit aims to build a blockchain community, first in Bataan but in due time, at a national level.

“It’s really about mass adoption and how to monetize it [blockchain], so it’s a win-win for the government, operators, and the entire ecosystem,” he said.

Samson lauded Bataan Governor Jose Enrique Garcia, who has rejuvenated the region’s push for tech adoption since he took office in late June this year. He wants “to uplift the digital economy,” Samson says. Any innovative companies in the region are allowed to continue building solutions while the government takes care of regulations, policing the industry for bad actors, and licensing.

Watch: Philippines leads the way in blockchain adoption—here’s how