The ‘digital peso’ is set to be brought in next year by a massive cryptocurrency firm based in China in order to serve overseas Filipino workers and Chinese nationals working in the Philippines.

Jeff Wang, the president of Huaren Capital has spoken to reporters on the matter earlier in the week and said that they were currently in talks with potential banks to partner up with, in which he didn’t specify anyone in particular.

The president of the firm said that the digital peso was aimed at decreasing the fees for international remittances which would, therefore, have benefits for OFWs.

Through his translator, Wang said:

“In China, they have electronic payments systems like Alipay and WeChat Pay, so the transfer of funds is very easy. We understand in the Philippines, many Filipino citizens don’t have a bank account, and when they transfer funds from one country to another or from one place to another, there’s always a high remittance fee incurred, so we are working towards reducing that kind of cost for the average Filipino citizen.”

He went on to say:

“Regardless whether Filipinos or non-Filipinos, as long as you have needs to transmit funds abroad—you can be Filipinos, Chinese who work in the Philippines, you can also be overseas Filipinos, and these are all our potential customers.”

Wang also said that the Chinese crypto giant has already begun talks with some Philippine banks which can provide digital peso services

According to Wang, they expect to sign deals with local banks in the first quarter of next year as well as a secure license from the BSP to launch the digital peso during the first half of 2019. Huaren Capital was also in talks with the BSP for the international conversion rates.

The pilot project would be located within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone which is operated by the state-run Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.

Wang said:

“I believe the technology is growing very fast, very rapidly in the Philippines. And e-commerce is growing and will be growing even faster with all these cryptocurrency technologies. We hope that this will bring the Philippines to the forefront of e-commerce around the world.”

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