The crypto scene in the Philippines has been blooming by leaps and bounds, as reflected in Chainalysis’s Global Crypto Adoption Index 2022, where it now ranks second, only behind its ASEAN neighbour, Vietnam. As a country with the world’s largest remittance markets, the Philippines is home to Coins.ph, Rebit.ph and Bitmarket.ph, who have led the financial revolution and modernisation of the Philippines’s financial industry in recent years. The growing popularity of crypto has not gone unnoticed as the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced it intends to launch a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) project in the final quarter of 2022. This project is in consonance with the country’s goal to transition into digital payment.
Furthermore, the Philippines welcome their new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., widely known to be an advocate for digital and technological innovation. Marcos Jr. emphasised “the need to adopt emerging technologies that could eventually pave for crypto adoption to expand further soon”. Likewise, the government and central bank have already begun working with experts to monitor and adequately track financial institutions utilising blockchain or crypto technology, so as to facilitate a safer environment for their investors, stakeholders and citizens.
As of 2022, it is reported that Filipino men are 1.7x more likely to own crypto as opposed to women, with 63% of Filipino crypto owners estimated to be men. To no surprise, Bitcoin tops the list as the most commonly owned cryptocurrency, with an estimated 37% of Filipino crypto owners owning Bitcoin. Lastly, almost half of Filipino crypto owners lie in the 18-34 years age bracket (46%) while 35% are aged 35-54 years old.
