Locally licensed platform Coins.ph has expanded its QRPh crypto payments feature to support Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The update allows users to spend these cryptocurrencies at approximately 700,000 QRPh-enabled merchants nationwide, the company announced.
The payment system utilizes QRPh, the national QR standard developed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to automatically convert digital assets into Philippine pesos at the point of sale. This rollout follows the company’s previous integration of the stablecoins Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) into the national QR payment infrastructure.
Transaction Flow and Market Data
According to a company statement, the feature automatically processes the asset conversion and merchant payment in a single step at checkout. If a transaction fails, the system reverses the asset conversion, and successful merchant refunds are processed in Philippine pesos. Coins.ph noted that additional tokens and integrations are planned for future release.
The expansion comes as the Philippines remains a prominent digital asset market. Data provided by the company indicates the country has more than 15 million cryptocurrency users and records approximately $38 billion in annual remittances.
Remittance and Cross-Border Strategy
During a company event, Coins.ph Global Marketing Director Amira Alawi stated that the platform is targeting the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) remittance market to lower traditional remittance fees, which typically range from 3% to 5%. Alawi noted that the integration allows receivers to retain funds in USDT or convert them to Philippine pesos directly on their mobile devices.
Alawi also detailed that Coins.ph is serving as an backend infrastructure layer for traditional business-to-business (B2B) entities and remittance groups to facilitate cheaper cross-border transfers on weekends and holidays. The platform currently operates cross-border mechanisms in Thailand, Brazil, and Mauritius, with an upcoming launch scheduled for Hong Kong, while working toward making the QRPh payment system borderless.
“The future of crypto adoption will be driven by utility,” Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou said in a statement. “By expanding QRPh crypto payments to Bitcoin and Ethereum, we’re making digital assets practical, accessible, and relevant to everyday Filipino life.”
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