Philippines: Digital assets support coming to GCash mobile wallet

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GCash, a popular mobile e-wallet in the Philippines, has shared plans to integrate digital assets soon. The integration will allow users to trade digital assets directly on the mobile wallet platform.

Niel Trinidad, the VP and Head of New Business at GCash, shared the details and rationale of the plan during a Web 3.0 education workshop organized by GCash’s parent company Globe Telecom in conjunction with Virtusio International.

In his presentation, he stated that the Philippine digital assets market is seeing a lot of adoption and high interest. By the numbers, he cited that 74% of Filipinos were aware of digital assets, 4% of the population (or 4.3 million Filipinos) already hold some, while another 53% are interested in owning digital assets.

“Despite the current bear market, cryptocurrency interest and adoption in the Philippines remain significantly higher than the global average, largely due to the popularity of play-to-earn games among Filipinos, the world’s top mobile gamers,” Trinidad said.

He added that Filipinos are among the world’s top NFT owners. Trinidad also noted that GCash was looking to enter the market at this time to be prepared to onboard its more than 4 million users when the digital assets market makes a comeback.

“Now is the best time to build and to learn, so that as the market starts to pick up later on, more than 4 million Filipinos are prepared to finally enter and participate in the crypto space,” he remarked.

Early signs of the integration of digital assets are already evident on the GCash mobile app. The app now has a “GCrypto” tab that still looks bare, but has a prompt reading:

“Crypto is Coming Soon! Explore the Crypto market anytime, anywhere! Buy, sell, and learn Crypto with GCash, soon!”

Philippines fintech companies in stiff competition to onboard digital assets

GCash has been eyeing the digital assets market for a while now. The company first revealed plans to support digital assets last year when it expressed a desire to follow in the footsteps of other payment service providers like PayPal, Square, and Venmo.

It took its first step to implement these plans in March this year when it began to allow users to buy digital assets on popular exchanges such as Paxos, Binance, and Philippine Digital Assets Exchange (PDAX).

However, it faces stiff competition in this service as other fintech companies have also entered the digital assets market. Maya (formerly PayMaya), another popular e-wallet, has already launched its integrated digital assets trading platform that features a digital assets wallet.

Watch: BSV Global Blockchain Convention presentation, BSV for Retail Payments, Remittances & Rewards

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