Cryptocurrency is at its peak of influence today, especially for those seeking to grow their assets.
Coins.PH's CEO, Wei Zhou, is no stranger to this goal as he explained in a Tech Times Exclusives the company's goals - not just in flourishing its standing in the industry, but also in helping people from Southeast Asia, specifically from the Philippines, to learn more through the fully-regulated exchange.
(Photo : Tech Times Exclusives)
What is Coins.ph?
Coins.ph is the largest crypto exchange in the Philippines. Zhou shared that they are licensed by the BSP, the central bank in the Philippines. The company has been around since 2014 and was one of the first cryptocurrency wallet exchange in the country. It is the place where a lot of Filipinos go for the first time to buy Bitcoin.
The CEO revealed that the company has gone through a couple of iterations in terms of ownership. "We actually purchased Coins.PH from Gojek, which is one of the largest ride-sharing conglomerates in Southeast Asia. Then the deal went through and was approved by the regulator in February of this year," Zhou pinpointed.
Coins.ph Relationship with APAC
Zhou observed that crypto price moves can be very violent, and that unlike traditional assets, it trades 24/7 through the weekends like Saturday night or Sunday morning when everybody is asleep and taking some time off - that is when these up and down movements can be seen.
"Crypto is not for the faint of heart, especially because you see price movements. But that being said if you can sort of look beyond daily price movements, I think it's actually a really exciting place to be in especially if you want to be a part of what I call almost like a global movement, where you can have control over your own assets," Zhou said.
The biggest thing that has been Zhou's takeaway from cryptocurrency is the ability for you to own your funds, invest your funds, and then move your funds.
APAC's Regulations
The lack of clarity in the United States regulations towards cryptocurrency, specifically not fully knowing the applicable regulators and what approach they will take, are a few reasons Zhou finds APAC to be a favorable place to build a crypto business.
He further expressed that SEC is basically regulating through enforcement rather than through transparent and clear policies about what is allowed for businesses, investors, and institutional investors that basically all want to come in.
Zhou added, "I mean I think there's general interest among global institutional investors leading investment banks endowments and retirement funds. They see this opportunity, but they don't know if what investing in is going to be legal and I think that unclarity is actually one of the contributors to this crypto winter or bear market right now. "
As a business, Zhou thinks that what you need is both transparency and certainty. Zhou cites these reasons for choosingto invest in a platform based in APAC, where at least platforms know the regulators are open in terms of having an open dialogue. They have laws in black and white about how to get licensed, and once someone is a licensed player, they know the rules that they have to follow to stay in the Philippines.
Read Also: Filipina Woman at the Forefront of Blockchain Technology
Coins.ph in the Philippines
Zhou believes that the Philippines is a unique place, where a significant amount of entrepreneurship is happening in the crypto space.
"We'veprobably seen more Filipino entrepreneurs or companies being built out of the Philippines over the last three years than any time, in the history around the country, so I think that that's actually what's really interesting about the Philippines," Zhou said.
Zhou is not originally from the Philippines, as he is a Chinese-American, who was born in China and grew up in the US. But since his college years, the last 20 years, he has been physically based out of Asia, spending time in Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, and now Manila.
After spending almost at least three months in the Philippines, he saw a lot of similar trends in growth perspective that he saw when he first moved to Beijing in the early 2000s, in terms of "youthful energy." This grew his willingness to try new technology and things that youthful vitality, is quite common for.
"Looking back in the days, Philippines is actually one of the top countries from the youth perspective, like Facebook had a massive following in years past even until now, and today, TikTok has a mass following too, and if you go around, if you travel around southeast Asia, the Philippines is probably one of the few countries other than Singapore where the billboards that you see are all in English," he mentioned.
With that condition, people are considered to be very savvy, like how people in the Philippines consume western movies for entertainment, without any subtitles or dubbing, which makes it interesting.
"That's why I think building coins is not just about helping Filipinos to access digital assets,but I actually think we can reverse it in terms of helping Filipinos to create digital content and digital assets for consumption in the global economy and I think that's what we're seeing from an entrepreneur building perspective and that's why I'm really passionate about my business, about coins, about digital assets, about crypto, and about the Philippines," he added.
Partnership with the PBA
The company extends its reach of service in the Philippines as Coins.ph officially sealed a partnership deal with the Philippine Basketball Association last July 31, 2022, at Mall of Asia Arena.
(Photo : JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)
As per the website of Coins.ph, they explained that the partnership aims to increase Filipinos' awareness on blockchain, digital ownership, web3, and NFTs. Suffice to say, the Philippines is being prepared to become a financially empowered nation through crypto education and engagement.
"The PBA is a good avenue to do these education initiatives as several basketball players are already well-involved with crypto," Coins.ph stated on their website.
When asked if coins was going to have a presence in the PBA in-game experience, Zhou immediately responded, "Yeah, we are."
He detailed the company's plans to have QR codes that fans can scan during games, which will let them try to win some NFTs by competing in online Web3 gmaes.
For more information, please watch the video interview here.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Riene Dimakiling
