Coins.ph, Philippines-based bitcoin services company, has announced that it allows its users to repay consumer loans with bitcoin now, widening the scale of products and services, that citizens of Philippines can pay for with the cryptocurrency.
Coins.ph is known for provision of the payment gateway Home Credit, which provides non-cash loans through in-store financing, mainly for purchases such as electronics and computers, musical instruments, home appliances or satellite TV subscriptions. Thus, Filipinos are now able to pay even daily bills in bitcoin through their Coins.ph wallets, becoming a country of a wide-scale of bitcoin payments. Now the the wallet’s “Pay Bills” summary lists over 70 bill payment options, including electric and water utilities, telecommunications and cable TV, insurance and broadband internet.
Furthermore, there are also possibilities like the national social security contributions, tuition fees at some schools or credit card payments at almost 20 banks. Users can also use the wallets to top up pre-paid mobile phone accounts and purchase game tokens. Their Coins.ph wallets are accessible via web browsers or mobile apps for Android and iOS.
And that’s not all. Coins.ph also functions as a bitcoin exchange, and international remittance service with its “Cash Out” feature. Amounts in Philippines pesos can be collected by the receiver in at least ten different ways. These include bank deposits, cardless ATM withdrawals, cash pickups and cash cards, and even door-to-door delivery. Even more, expat Filipinos sending money from abroad can also use their bitcoins to pay any of the bills listed above, instead of remitting money directly.
The Philippines are one of the countries, which offer the widest possibilities for the digital currency. Filipinos in other countries reach over 10 million, including both temporary and permanent expat workers, and other foreign-born citizens of Filipino descent. Moreover, the South-East Asian country has a large population of unbanked or under-banked people, meaning simple bank transfers are often not an option for remittances.
As the recent data showed, overseas Filipinos have sent $6.56 billion in cash remittances home during the first quarter of 2016. There has also been a sharp increase in smartphone shipments to the country, surpassing most others in the region. Other services including Satoshi Citadel Industries’ Rebit.ph know about this opportunity and are trying to reach a share of the remittance market with services aimed directly at overseas transfers.
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