The approval was granted under the regulatory sandbox framework of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), allowing Coins.ph to test the stablecoin's real-world applications and assess its impact on the existing financial ecosystem.
According to the company's announcement, the PHPC stablecoin will be backed by Coins.ph's cash and cash equivalents held in Philippine bank accounts. This ensures that the stablecoin maintains a value pegged to the Philippine Peso. Coins.ph, led by CEO Wei Zhou, former Chief Financial Officer of Binance, plans to make the stablecoin available on its platform by early June.

During a press briefing, Zhou stated that the pilot program's performance will be closely monitored. If certain metrics are met, Coins.ph expects to obtain full approval, allowing them to transition out of the regulatory sandbox and operate the stablecoin on a larger scale.

The approval of Coins.ph's stablecoin pilot comes at a time when the Philippines government has expressed its intention to launch a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) within the next two years. Additionally, digital payments firm Strike has expanded its global money transfer service to the Philippines, tapping into the country's $12 billion remittance market, one of the largest in the world.