Philippine’s Union Bank Will Offer Crypto Custodial Services

Founded in 1968, the Union Bank of the Philippines better known as UnionBank for short is one of the country’s oldest and most trusted banks. But despite its age, it’s moving on and catching up with the times as it’s planning to cater to the crypto community as its potential customers. 

UnionBank Offering Custodial Services On Crypto Assets 

Just recently the Union Bank of the Philippines has announced that they are planning to open custodial services specifically for cryptocurrencies. Crypto assets are becoming more and more popular among Filipinos and it’s time for them to get their hands in the market.

Cathy Casas, the First Vice President at UnionBank and head of blockchain operations has already made an outline for their plan. She is a top executive with more than 17 years of experience when it comes to banking and finance. Casas explained that it is necessary for the bank to do this if they want to secure their position in the future. 

An estimate from Binance shows that more Filipinos hold cryptocurrency compared to the global average showing that the local population of the Philippines have crypto assets or at least has dabbled in crypto. 

There are some regulatory concerns regarding the bank doing this. Benjamin Diokno, governor of the Central Bank of The Philippines states that this could prove dangerous and could provide more opportunities for illegal activity sabotaging the country’s economy. 

The Philippines and Crypto

UnionBank is just catching up with the times because the Philippines has long embraced cryptocurrency. Statistics indicate that the Philippines has the third-highest uptake of cryptocurrency globally. 

It’s also one of the fastest adopters of cryptocurrency and the pandemic only made things more prevalent giving people more free time as well as forcing people to look for alternative sources of income because of losing their jobs. This is most likely due to Filipinos viewing cryptocurrency as an alternate form of investment. UnionBank is capitalizing on this statistic since more and more Filipinos are getting their hands wet with cryptocurrency. 

Conclusion

The Philippines is no slouch when it comes to cryptocurrency considering that a large majority of them own cryptocurrency. A large bank catering to the needs of this new customer base is to be expected. Now whether or not this damages the country’s economy remains to be seen.

* We hope this information will help you in your investment process, but this is not investment advice. Every investment carries risk, especially in this industry, so DYOR before making a decision.