The Philippines’ massive crypto investments — estimated at ₱6 trillion ($107 billion) as per Finance Secretary Ralph Recto — highlights its role as a global crypto hotspot, but conflicting data and regulatory gaps might signal risks.
Why does this news matter: Discussions related to crypto have reached the higher levels of the government, which could signal either further scrutiny or more openness to the industry. (Read more: Coinbase CEO Meets Philippine Finance Chief in Davos to Explore PH Expansion)
The numbers:
- ₱6 trillion ($107B): Crypto investments claimed by Recto.
- This number is 2x larger than the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) industry, as per crypto thought leader Luis Buenaventura.
- ₱2.4T ($43B): 2024 crypto flow, per Chainalysis — a 40% drop from 2023 at face value (more on this in the next section).
- 8th place: Philippines’ 2024 crypto adoption rank, down from 2nd in 2022.
Between the headlines: Sec. Recto’s ₱6 trillion clashes with third-party data showing shrinking inflows:
- In Chainalysis’ 2024 Geography of Cryptocurrency report, the Philippines’ total cryptocurrency value received was USD43.1 billion.
- In 2023, we published that the figure was $66 billion.
- In an email, Chainalysis said that while this could mean a 40% drop, the firm has changed how it counts DeFi value to provide a more accurate estimate, which then impacts total crypto values.
In the Bloomberg interview, Sec. Recto mentioned the following as to why Filipinos warm out to crypto:
- Many Filipinos are engaging in crypto due to a young, tech-savvy, and English-speaking population.
- 90 million Filipinos have digital wallets, which they use to save, invest, and transact in c9rypto.
- Platforms like GCash contribute to increased digital financial activity.
“In the Philippines, a lot of Filipinos have already invested in crypto. Something like 6 trillion pesos worth of investments in crypto is being done. We have a young population, (in the) Philippines the average age is about 25 years old and they’re interested in crypto—and they’re English speaking. So, yeah, about 6 trillion pesos have already been invested in crypto in the Philippines… I expect more, especially with the digital connectivity.”
Ralph Recto, Secretary, Department of Finance
Reality check: In a previous report, blockchain firm ConsenSys highlighted that only 28% of Filipinos fully understand web3, suggesting an education gap.
Worth reading: In terms of crypto regulation, the Philippine SEC’s recently released draft rules for crypto-asset service providers include details concerning licensing, compliance, marketing, cybersecurity, anti-market manipulation, and penalties.
This article is published on BitPinas: Finance SEC Claims Pinoys Have Invested ₱6 Trillion Into Crypto
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