Popular Philippine Mobile Wallet Gcash Explores Letting Users Buy, Sell, Store Cryptocurrencies

A popular mobile wallet in the Philippines, Gcash, is considering offering its users the ability to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies on its platform, which reportedly has 40 million users. The company’s CEO says 40% of Filipinos now have a Gcash account.

Gcash Considers Offering Crypto Trading and Storage Services

Philippine mobile wallet Gcash is exploring adding cryptocurrency to its portfolio of financial products and services, The Philippine Star reported this week, adding that the platform has over 40 million users as of the end of April. Through the Gcash app, users can shop, save, invest, and get insurance coverage, among others.

Gcash is operated by Mynt, a fintech startup partnership between Globe Telecom, the Ayala Corporation, and Ant Financial. The company’s key services include payments, remittances, and loans. Mynt CEO Martha Sazon said that the Gcash platform has four million registered accounts in Gsave and 1.4 million registered accounts in Ginvest as of the end of April.

The executive said the company is looking into offering the buying, selling, and storing of cryptocurrencies, elaborating:

While we may be considered a disruptor now, it is important in this digital age that we should be mindful of all types of disruptions out there. It’s important to know what the trends are, whether locally and globally and crypto is part of that.

Sazon noted, “Just like in any introductions, you need a platform, a working business model, [and] a partner,” adding that the service could launch “as soon as those are satisfied.”

A number of payments giants, including Paypal and Square, have embraced cryptocurrencies and allowed their users to buy and sell them on their platforms.

Sazon further said that 40% of Filipinos now have a Gcash account and active users use the app more than twice a day. The CEO additionally shared that a third of the app’s monthly active users subscribe to at least one of the company’s financial services or products through the platform, emphasizing:

We will continue to innovate and provide relevant and accessible financial services for all.

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