Philippines’ UnionBank Launches Its Stablecoin PHX; Performs First Blockchain Transaction
The leading financial institution of the country- the Philippines UnionBank, informed the release of its own cryptocurrency, aims to link rural banks through its blockchain-based platform.
As per PhilStar Global- Filipino media outlet stated that UnionBank of the Philippines had introduced its own stablecoin-PHX. Along with the release, the UnionBank has implemented a blockchain transaction on its i2i platform. The news was announced on July 26th by PhilStart Global.
Senior Vice President of Union Bank and Fintech Business Group Head, Arvie de Vera informed the magazine,
“PHX is a stable store of value, medium of exchange and is a programmable token with self-executing logic. It enables transparent and automatic execution of payments.”
As per PhilStar Global, the live stablecoin transaction was successfully closed by three financial institutions, namely the Summit Rural Bank in Luzon, Cantilan Bank in Mindanao and Progressive Bank in the Visayas over the i2i platform. These three rural banks used stablecoin PHX of UnionBank to carry purchase, exchange, redemption transactions including domestic remittances.
I2i stands for institution-to-institution, island-to-island, and individual-to-individual. It is the name offered to the blockchain clearing system that links Philippines UnionBank to rural banks across the nation.
Stablecoin of UnionBank solve settlement problems and simplifies audit and compliance problems, said de Vera. In the initial stage, the members of the i2i blockchain-based platform can buy cryptocurrency PHX by doing direct debits from their bank accounts, having in UnionBank.
It is apparently mentioned that for i2i customers, the technique of converting stablecoin PHX to PHP –official currency of the Philippines and also withdrawing the money in fiat currency to bank accounts will be easy.
The stablecoin of UnionBank, PHX is pegged to the fiat currency of Philippines peso and is supported by Philippines UnionBank reserves.
In 2018, the project i2i had been tested by five Philippines rural banks.
It’s important for the Philippines to connect Filipinos to the banking system as 70 percent of Filipinos lack access to the financial system, particularly within rural societies.
The UnionBank is not scared to use advanced technology to achieve its objective, and hence, the Philippines bank is progressing fast to join the unbanked Filipinos to the financial system of the country.
The i2i network and stablecoin are just the initial steps of UnionBank-the bank hold immense interest in crypto assets. Back in February this year, the UnionBank introduced two-way digital currency ATM, first of its kind mainly to solve remittance service request. This service offers a simple technique for local customers to exchange virtual currencies and fiat currencies.
While, in July UnionBank effectively finished testing of a blockchain-powered cross-border remittance platform, started the pilot in the Philippines and closed it in Singapore.
The initiative used blockchain powered tokenized fiat currency to pay from OCBC Bank of Singapore to an account owner at Cantilan Bank- the rural bank, this initiative is also associated to the ongoing project of UnionBank to offer its unbanked people with access to financial services of the system.
