AMA (Ask Me Anything): The current state of Bitcoin in the Philippines 🇵🇭

[coinwizard_]

The leader of the philipines is unconventional, especially with his kill a drug dealer laws. Has he fully embraced crypto currencies or has he simply not made it illegal so people can still trade?

[buwaytress]

It's actually only one of two countries that I haven't visited in Southeast Asia, but I know a lot of people from there - in person and professionally. As mentioned above, one gets the feeling that Bitcoin is hugely associated with MLM or get-rich-quick scams in the Philippines, but not really more so than in neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia. But that's not so much Bitcoin's fault. There's actually a known "ring" of people operating in these 3 countries and more who've been cycling HYIPs since the 1990s... Bitcoin's just the latest mode of payment.

For me, the appeal of Bitcoin to overseas workers (their remittance still PH's largest GDP contributor) is its original premise. Direct transfer of money, fast, cheap. Up to 2 years ago though, Bitcoin wasn't the preferred choice of remittance, at least in countries I've worked in. They of course don't use Moneygram or WU anymore, but they've got far cheaper options. Here where I live now, I know a PH shop where you can send up to EUR 500 home for a flat rate of EUR 5. It's still a lot more in percentage than Bitcoin... but to buy Bitcoin and have someone else at home sell it, you end up losing more.

[presduterte]

The leader of the philipines is unconventional, especially with his kill a drug dealer laws. Has he fully embraced crypto currencies or has he simply not made it illegal so people can still trade?

If by unconventional you mean awesome, then I agree. They don't call me Rad Rody for nothing. Donald Trump stole my style, by the way.

What's a crypto currency? Sounds sneaky. Must be used by the Communists or something.

OK this has been exhausting, back to sleep.

[Upgate]

What is cryptocurrency interest like amongst young people in the Philippines?
Are Philippines government interested in creating a coin of there own?
What exchanges are mostly patronized by crypto users in the Philippines?
Is there any form of ban what so ever placed on cryptocurrency in the Philippines?

[nutildah]

There's actually a known "ring" of people operating in these 3 countries and more who've been cycling HYIPs since the 1990s... Bitcoin's just the latest mode of payment.

I wouldn't doubt it. When I first moved in to my apartment in Pampanga (PI), my neighbor saw me looking at a bitcoin chart, and told me he invests in bitcoin too, showed me something called Trade Coin Club. He talked about promised returns so I took about 15 minutes to look into it, and sure enough, its a Ponzi scheme that is now pretty much bust. He lost several hundred thousand pesos no doubt, but couldn't admit it at the time.

Instead of thanking me for explaining it to him, he bought a German Shepard the next day that he kept on a 3 foot chain outside his door. It barked all fucking day. Fucking asshole.

The most devious part about the whole Trade Coin Club thing was he had been recruited by a member at his church! I really do understand why Filipinos have a hard time trusting each other.

Here where I live now, I know a PH shop where you can send up to EUR 500 home for a flat rate of EUR 5. It's still a lot more in percentage than Bitcoin... but to buy Bitcoin and have someone else at home sell it, you end up losing more.

If you have a verified Coins.ph account, you can cash out BTC at the Cebuana remittance place for a fee of 3-5%. They also recently started an agreement with Palawan Pawnshop.

Another interesting thing is you can "cash in" pesos for BTC using these multi-function touchscreen machines at most 7-Elevens. So, the need for a physical exchanger is kind of bypassed so long as there's a 7-Eleven nearby.

[mk4]

The leader of the philipines is unconventional, especially with his kill a drug dealer laws. Has he fully embraced crypto currencies or has he simply not made it illegal so people can still trade?

Cryptocurrencies in the Philippines are pretty much neither legal nor illegal. The government is just ignoring it for now as far as I know.

What is cryptocurrency interest like amongst young people in the Philippines?

Like I said previously, it's mostly an investment. Interest was definitely high in November-December last year, but now that a good number of people lost money in the bear market, the interest has died down quite a bit.

Are Philippines government interested in creating a coin of there own?

Oh god no. None as of now, at least. Hopefully they wouldn't go the Maduro route.

What exchanges are mostly patronized by crypto users in the Philippines?

• Coins.ph for fiat <-> crypto, for bills payments, and for mobile load. Coins.ph is heavily underappreciated.
• Binance for the traders

Is there any form of ban what so ever placed on cryptocurrency in the Philippines?

None as of now at least. They're just cracking down on the ponzi schemes.

[Steamtyme]

Great thread, nice to see some real discussion.

EDIT: I think I should've made this top self-moderated.

I'm guessing you've had to go hard on the "report to moderator" button to keep it this clean.


Where I live in Canada actually has nearly a 50% filipino population. Most have been her less than 3 years, they've come over for work and tend to stick around and bring their families over after a few years. The culture difference is neat, group everything, and super friendly/helpful.

I did try at one point to establish a connection in the Phillipines to create a Fiat/BTC money transfer for back home. Never did gt it going as some people here had those thoughts of scams or Ponzi, and others it was just tough to go through the language barrier. It did make me think that this is a great use for BTC to help people trying to send funds back home while working abroad.

[mk4]

*snip*

You're welcome! I'd figure that I'd spend a bit of time to create my own topic to bring a bit of life here. 

Wow. I knew there are a lot of filipinos in Canada(as I know a good number of people there), but I didn't know it was somewhere around 50%.

In my opinion, if you were to push through with your plan, I suggest that you don't even advertise it as a platform that uses bitcoin. Just keep bitcoin hidden and working on the back end.

[jake zyrus]

Great a bitcoin advocate in the Philippines and I appreciate on the marketing strategies you are doing to promote bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the Philippines. Hopefully soon we will see bitcoin ATM machines in the major cities here in the Philippines to boost the adaption of cryptocurrency in the market especially to the big malls here in the Philippines.

Philippines government are recognized bitcoin. Philippines government are open minded about the new technologies of cryptocurrency, the advocate of bitcoin here are truly appreciated and the strategies are so great, hopefully that one day we see bitcoin atm machine here in the Philippines .

[mk4]

Philippines government are recognized bitcoin. Philippines government are open minded about the new technologies of cryptocurrency, the advocate of bitcoin here are truly appreciated and the strategies are so great,

Do they actually? Also, can you name some bitcoin/cryptocurrency "advocates" in the Philippines?

hopefully that one day we see bitcoin atm machine here in the Philippines .

Actually, bitcoin ATMs has been present in the Philippines for years already.

[Steamtyme]

but I didn't know it was somewhere around 50%.
-snip-
 Just keep bitcoin hidden and working on the back end.

Well not all of canada has the same distribution. My town has a large plant that has hired and brought over a lot of filipino workers.

Pretty big community in the largest city near us to. Best part for me is i absolutely live the food.

Yeah for now I've given up on the idea locally. I think its an idea that has legs in the future maybe. Either way I'd want to be upfront about the bitcoin aspect at least to try and use knowledge and experience to cut down on the stigma

[Reid]

Informative replies.
Thanks you for this thread.

But it looks like the merchants are still in doubt of using it at this country. Still needs more adoption and people to push it more.
There is not much advertisement about it and I have seen the local news making some mistakes into how they report scams that are using bitcoin.
They forget it is a currency and not the scammer itself for there is no human behind the bitcoin technology. 
I will be looking at this thread. 

[mk4]

*snip*

Which food specifically?  Also, how are the people?

Dude I bet someone who made a money transmitter company(which uses bitcoin in the back-end) in the Philippines, that has low fees is going to be decently rich. There are LOTS of overseas filipino workers or "OFWs" that are sort of forced to use current money transmitters with like 10% fees or such. If they learn that there's a way to send money with smaller fees, boi that's gonna boom.

This person is a bounty zombie. They'll never read your questions, they just move from one thread to the next, posting mindless drivel to meet a bounty requirement. I remember them because I know its a Filipino pop singer name. Sorry for going off topic, again.

I'd figure. I really should've made this topic self-moderated. 🤦‍♂️

*snip*

For those who really know about bitcoin, welp, I'm pretty sure they don't like the volatility; taking note that a lot of people are in poverty and aren't willing to lose more money due to volatility.

Really? What has the news been about? They thought bitcoin was a scam company or something? lmao. Nothing surprising though, everything's about the money in the Philippines. Fuck knowledge LOL.

[buwaytress]

<snip>
The most devious part about the whole Trade Coin Club thing was he had been recruited by a member at his church! I really do understand why Filipinos have a hard time trusting each other.

Trust me, it's a Southeast Asia thing 100%. Filipinos find these things at a church, Malaysians, Indonesians, Thais, they find it at a Buddhist temple or at a mosque. I've seen HYIP pamphlets just stuck on the notice board at a mosque, and the name of the local imam stamped on it for further contact. They add Bitcoin, they add "free" they add interest rates and some random quote about religion and you've got a divine HYIP with Bitcoin. They'll make a lot of money cheating pensioners, and then when it collapses they pretend they were also tricked and that it wasn't God's will after all.

If you have a verified Coins.ph account, you can cash out BTC at the Cebuana remittance place for a fee of 3-5%. They also recently started an agreement with Palawan Pawnshop.

Another interesting thing is you can "cash in" pesos for BTC using these multi-function touchscreen machines at most 7-Elevens. So, the need for a physical exchanger is kind of bypassed so long as there's a 7-Eleven nearby.

It's still a tad expensive at 3% though! I know Alipay's targeting Philippine nationals in the US for remittance with their own crypto, and I'm sure if they looked very hard in the Gulf countries, plus the rest of SEA, they'd have a huge market. Problem is as this thread seems to concur, Bitcoin's got a terrible association with get-rich-quick schemes in PH.

[Steamtyme]

Which food specifically?  Also, how are the people?

Dude I bet someone who made a money transmitter company(which uses bitcoin in the back-end) in the Philippines, that has low fees is going to be decently rich. There are LOTS of overseas filipino workers or "OFWs" that are sort of forced to use current money transmitters with like 10% fees or such. If they learn that there's a way to send money with smaller fees, boi that's gonna boom.

Man I could eat Adobo anything, so good. Overall it's given me an appreciation for the sweet and savory meat/stew dishes. The best/worst was the very addictive pork spring rolls, had to seek help last year to stop shoving them in my face.... now I'm getting hungry wonder that the special is today.

The people are super friendly, and polite. I feel bad as I think a lot of the new comers are afraid of insulting someone or doing some small thing wrong. It tends to put them in the mindset almost of a class system, I know I get way more Sir's than I deserve, but things tend to become way less formal after a few months when they finally get a chance to breathe and realize they don't have to worry so much.

AFA the money transmitting goes, I'm sure it would do well. I'd have to look back at it but I was surprised by the lack of options out there apart from western union; especially for a fast transfer. To make a go if it you definitely need an office in the Phillipines to handle the cash dispersals, as I've heard it can be tricky to get new accounts tied in with coins.ph and your banking info. That was one major hurdle was trying to explain how they could get their funds on the other end.

[LeGaulois]

So reading the posts, if I summarize:
- Citizens aren't really using Bitcoin other than people who invest and scammer with MLM. What do you think is the percentage of bitcoiners who are really using BTC as it's supposed to be? Is there a real demand for BTC?
- Your government is ok with cryptos as long the business is legit.

My question is:
If you have enough capital to start with, what kind of business would you start in your country? Of course, I mean something profitable and not necessarily something big.

[mk4]

What do you think is the percentage of bitcoiners who are really using BTC as it's supposed to be? Is there a real demand for BTC?

I really can't give a number, but a very small minority for sure. I personally don't know a single person that actually uses bitcoin for store-of-value or as a currency. Everything is pretty much "yo invest in bitcoin it might go up in price etc etc". Yes, a lot of people use Coins.ph to pay for mobile load and to pay for bills, but I think most are just depositing straight to their Coins.ph fiat wallet rather than cashing in through bitcoin. You pretty much can use Coins.ph's features without touching BTC.

If you have enough capital to start with, what kind of business would you start in your country? Of course, I mean something profitable and not necessarily something big.

I really don't have a business idea on the top of my head currently. What I have an idea on is just how I would execute it.

• If you want to target a larger demographic, prices should be low-average simply because poverty rates are pretty high here.
• Utilize Facebook ads. People in the Philippines are really really active on Facebook; and they love liking and sharing stuff. Not using Facebook ads is a huge waste.
• Befriend your customers(pretty much common sense but yea). Some filipinos like hanging out on random places, so if you get people to hang out on your store, quite a big win.

[Naida_BR]

I read the government is not so supportive for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology. However, I can notice that the Philippines has a strong community in the crypto space and many people are involved in this industry.

1. What is the reason of this?

And secondly, many countries involving mine have some difficulties of buying crypto (fiat to crypto and vice versa is kind of regulated).

2. What is the gateaway for you to buy your crypto?

[mk4]

I read the government is not so supportive for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology. However, I can notice that the Philippines has a strong community in the crypto space and many people are involved in this industry.

1. What is the reason of this?

I think they just simply don't care. Politicians are corrupt to start with, so as long as there's more taxes, then it's probably a win for them.

And secondly, many countries involving mine have some difficulties of buying crypto (fiat to crypto and vice versa is kind of regulated).

2. What is the gateaway for you to buy your crypto?

It completely depends on your country; but I think you wouldn't have much trouble if you're willing to submit KYC/AML information. Also, why not use LocalBitcoins?

Like I said in the main topic, people in the Philippines mainly use Coins.ph; sometimes Abra.

[joniboini]

Like I said in the main topic, people in the Philippines mainly use Coins.ph; sometimes Abra.

I heard that Coins.ph has been acquired by Go-Jek (the major player in the ride-hailing business in Indonesia).[1] Does this have any effect on how the Philippines use the services?

The acquisition amount is crazy according to the report, around $72 million.

[1] https://www.investinblockchain.com/go-jek-acquires-coins-ph/