Coins.ph, a leading Philippine fintech, has solidified a strategic partnership with global fintech firm Circle Internet Financial (Circle). The goal is to harness USDC, a regulated digital dollar stablecoin, offering a secure, efficient, and swift solution for international money transfers to the vast 18 million user base of Coins.ph.
Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, spotlighted this development on Twitter, stating:
Today through a broad commercial partnership with @coinsph, @circle will bring $USDC distribution and remittances to their 18 Million Filipino users. Digital dollars and low-cost, instant dollar remittance continues to be unlocked in emerging markets. https://t.co/xb9gLfHx6n
— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) October 11, 2023
The announcement highlighted a 2022 report from the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines). It stated that remittance inflows to the Philippines reached $36.1 billion, demonstrating the significant financial inflow to the nation. Meanwhile, conventional remittance methods were associated with high fees and extended transaction times.
Meanwhile, data from the World Bank revealed the cost of sending a $200 remittance to Asia in 2022 averaged 5.7%. This has been a noteworthy concern in the region, considering that 44% of adult Filipinos lacked banking facilities in 2021.
The announcement noted that USDC, operating on global blockchains, offers an alternative with its relatively low entry barriers and transaction fees. Such features place USDC as a consideration in discussions surrounding international remittances and cross-border payments.
Raagulan Pathy, Vice President for Asia Pacific at Circle, shared insights on the venture, emphasizing Circle’s overarching mission to augment the “accessibility” and efficiency of financial transactions. He further referenced the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal to curtail migrant remittance transaction costs to below 3% by 2023 and expressed optimism about the collaboration’s potential to amplify economic growth in the Philippines.
In related news, Circle recently introduced native USDC support on the Polygon Proof of Stake (PoS) network. Polygon, an Ethereum-compatible multi-chain scaling solution, has seen a surge in its ecosystem, particularly within the realms of DeFi, NFTs, and gaming.
This move by Circle is expected to help meet the rising demand for efficient transaction solutions for over three million Polygon users. The development will also allow for reduced fees with USDC in comparison to the typical Ethereum mainnet transactions.
