The world of digital currency is heating up in the Philippines.
The nation is welcoming its latest bitcoin exchange Palarin, which is aiming to bring Coinbase-style services to the country and grant citizens some easy access to bitcoin and bring a little friendly competition to companies such as Rebit.
The Philippines is proving to be one of the fastest-growing areas in Asia, and when it comes to embracing new forms of technology, the people are always there at the front of the line.
Palarin co-founder Brian Gamido explains some of the motivation behind the company, with the primary goal being that migrant workers can send funds back home to their families cheaply through bitcoin:
“The roadmap is leveraging existing behaviors dealing with fiat currencies. Part of the motivation is really to enable low-cost remittances… The percentage fee for the service covers the conversion of Bitcoin sent by remittance senders to Philippine peso and the distribution of Philippine peso funds to remittance recipients… The overarching idea of Palarin is to allow people to prosper with new financial tools and technologies.”
Adam Draper, the son of venture capitalist and bitcoin enthusiast Tim Draper, is particularly proud of the news, as he feels that the Philippines is a prime area to push for the acceptance of bitcoin, and he has been particularly adamant about building bitcoin exchanges in Asian markets:
“The Philippines is a great place for bitcoin to flourish since tech adoption is generally high in the country and there are real-world pain points that Bitcoin can solve.”
Palarin, which actually means “to prosper” in Filipino, is looking to expand by partnering with American and European exchanges in the coming year.
Images from Palarin and Creative Commons