Coins.ph Says Stablecoin B2B Pivot Reached Nearly $100M in Daily Volume

From retail exchange to payments backend

Zhou said Coins.ph responded to weaker consumer trading activity by building around gaps in the Philippine financial system. He argued that local banks remain difficult to connect to at scale because they do not interoperate smoothly and often lack usable APIs, creating an opening for a crypto-based settlement layer.

That shift has turned Coins.ph into a peso off-ramp for USDT and USDC flows tied to cross-border commercial activity. Rather than depending on speculative token trading, the company is positioning itself as backend infrastructure for firms that need foreign exchange and settlement outside normal banking hours.

Weekend volumes and pressure on legacy remittance rails

According to Zhou, Coins.ph has been processing close to $100 million a day in USDT and USDC into Philippine pesos in the weeks before the August 22, 2026 interview. He said volumes rise on weekends because banks are closed, while merchants and platforms still need access to foreign exchange.

Zhou contrasted that model with remittance incumbents and earlier fintech challengers such as Wise. He said Wise still depends on traditional rails that require prefunding and stop after hours. He also claimed Wise cannot get pricing below roughly 40 to 50 basis points, while Coins.ph allows some users to reach 5 basis points. Those comparisons were presented as his assessment of how stablecoin-based rails can undercut both banks and established remittance platforms.

Stablecoins, investment access and overseas remittances

Zhou said retail demand for stablecoins in Southeast Asia is not as strong as in some parts of Latin America or Africa because local currencies are comparatively more stable. In the Philippines, he argued, one of the stronger retail use cases is access to investments that domestic banks do not directly offer, including tokenized versions of U.S. stocks funded through stablecoins.

He also pointed to remittances from overseas Filipinos as an area where crypto could reduce fees charged by intermediaries. As an example, he said a relative in the United States can send USDC directly to a Coins wallet, with conversion to pesos on Coins costing 3 basis points and cash-out through InstaPay costing a flat 5 pesos. He specifically cited seafarers whose pay is routed through associations and banks, saying foreign exchange spreads erode part of their income before it reaches family members.

Bank partnerships, licenses and expansion plans

Zhou said he is frustrated that some local banks are seeking stablecoin partnerships abroad instead of working with Philippine virtual asset service providers. He argued that even when a foreign partner sends USDC into the country, the funds still need to be settled into pesos through a local regulated player. His stated goal is to give every Filipino bank account holder a USDC or USDT address they can receive money into, adding that the company’s APIs are already prepared for that use case.

Beyond the Philippines, Zhou said Coins.ph is pursuing payment and crypto licenses in major and emerging markets and already supports settlement in Thai baht, Brazilian real and U.S. dollars. He said more Southeast Asian currencies are planned by the end of the year.

At home, the company is still waiting for a Crypto Asset Service Provider license from the Philippine SEC, which Zhou said would enable more advanced yield-bearing stablecoin products once approved. He also said Coins.ph plans to launch a locally issued crypto-backed card by year-end, arguing that many cards marketed in the Philippines today are issued from Hong Kong or Singapore and carry foreign exchange surcharges of 2% to 3%.

Next step: compliance-led growth

Zhou framed the company’s strategy as part of a broader industry shift toward regulated, utility-focused crypto services. He said formal regulatory frameworks are now in place across markets including Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, making compliance and local licensing central to expansion.

The next confirmed milestones he identified are additional Southeast Asian currency support by the end of the year, the planned launch of a locally issued crypto card, and a decision from the Philippine SEC on the firm’s CASP application. Until then, Coins.ph’s core pitch remains its B2B stablecoin settlement business and its claim that it can move funds into pesos more cheaply and continuously than legacy remittance channels.