The Philippines, a haven for crypto gaming, is making a comeback
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The Philippines, a haven for crypto gaming, is making a comeback
Two years after the cryptocurrency market crash, farmers in the Philippines have started earning income from a game called Pixels.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Eli Tan
Translated by Luffy, Foresight News
On a recent Tuesday night in Quezon City, about 10 miles from Manila, the second floor of Joniel Bon’s newly opened internet café was packed with around 20 people. Seated at computers equipped with 34-inch curved monitors, they played video games like Heroes of Mavia and Nifty Island, while music from Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 blared through the speakers.
Playing these games can be a full-time job, and some of Bon’s customers have settled in, fueling themselves with slices of pizza. These games reward players with cryptocurrency tokens for completing small daily challenges. Typically, players cash out their tokens into the local peso currency, earning roughly twice the Philippines’ daily minimum wage of $11.
A man walks past a building with a small sign reading "NFT X STREET," the name of an internet café, holding his child's hand
Bon, a 40-year-old former IT worker whose dreams of business success were dashed after the cryptocurrency market crashed two years ago, has seen hopes for gaming guilds fade.
“One thing I have to say is, ‘I believe in this,’ I had to hold onto hope,” said Bon. “We survived.”
Bon’s new internet café marks a resurgence of cryptocurrency activity in the Philippines, long a hub for crypto engagement. This month, Bitcoin hit record highs, recovering from the 2022 market collapse and lifting other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum along with it.
New billboards from cryptocurrency companies are appearing across Manila. People have begun harvesting virtual crops in a crypto game called Pixels as a fresh source of income. Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are returning home to earn cryptocurrency, adopting a new identity: metaverse Filipino workers (MFWs).
Players at the internet café check their cryptocurrency wallets on mobile phones
The internet café is decorated with anime characters
According to data from research firm Chainalysis, cryptocurrency transaction values in the Philippines rose 70% between November and December last year compared to September and October, reaching $7.3 billion.
In March, the number of Filipino players on Pixels surged to over 830,000 from 80,000 in November last year, according to the game’s developers. They estimate that about 30% of global cryptocurrency gamers come from the Philippines.
Joniel Bon stands with a group watching others play video games
The revival of crypto gaming activity has left some Philippine officials cautious. At a cryptocurrency conference in Manila in November, Kelvin Lee, then a commissioner at the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission, said the government was struggling to figure out how to regulate the technology as it regains popularity.
Cryptocurrency has previously been at the center of fraud and scams. Tokens issued by crypto games are more volatile than Bitcoin and Ethereum, meaning booms could collapse again.
“We want a safe space to operate well,” Lee said, acknowledging that a strong crypto industry could help the Philippines, which heavily relies on outsourced customer service and information technology jobs. “But if the industry itself looks unruly, difficult to operate, or illegal, how can you operate well?”
Lee, who left the SEC this month, declined interview requests. Last month, the central bank told local media it plans to issue its own digital currency within the next two years.
Cryptocurrency became especially popular in the Philippines during pandemic lockdowns. While over 40% of the population lacks bank accounts, most Filipino households have internet access, allowing crypto to spread widely into rural areas.
During lockdowns, people began playing Axie Infinity, a crypto video game made by Vietnamese company Sky Mavis. In the game, players battle Pokémon-like creatures to earn a cryptocurrency called Smooth Love Potion (SLP).
People playing Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn crypto video game that gained popularity in the Philippines during pandemic lockdowns
At its peak in 2021, SLP was accepted by landlords, gas stations, and some restaurants in the Philippines as an alternative to pesos.
But a year later, when the cryptocurrency crashed, thousands of Filipinos lost their savings held in SLP. Game characters that some players had bought for thousands of dollars—so expensive that some Filipinos took out loans to afford them—became worthless.
“When everyone was getting in, the game looked great,” said Ian Dela Cruz, a 30-year-old farmer from Pampanga province north of Manila and a former Axie player. “But when everyone tried to get out, the game ended.”
Former Axie player Ian Dela Cruz stayed in the crypto industry, becoming a video game streamer on Twitch
Some Filipinos who successfully earned money through Axie became entrepreneurs, launching their own companies and gaming teams known as “guilds.”
Teresa Pia, 27, a former preschool teacher and Axie player, quit her job in 2021 to run a crypto gaming guild called Real Deal, which has 54,000 members on the social platform Discord. Pia treats her Discord channel as “a new classroom,” where she teaches members—many of whom are overseas Filipino women—how to trade and invest in cryptocurrency. She says many of these women have now earned enough to return home and reunite with their families as crypto rebounds.
Teresa Pia, a former preschool teacher, teaches members of her Discord channel how to trade and invest in cryptocurrency
“The money they receive might seem small, but when converted into pesos, it’s a huge amount for them,” Pia said.
Dela Cruz remained in the crypto industry, becoming a video game streamer on Twitch, owned by Amazon. He is now captain of one of the Philippines’ largest esports teams. He said that in Pampanga, many farmers have started playing Pixels and harvesting virtual crops to earn cryptocurrency as supplemental income.
Luke Barwikowski, the American founder of Pixels, said Filipino farmers have given him advice on how to make the game more realistic.
“Some users directly share their crop schedules or irrigation habits with us,” he said.
Even by crypto industry standards, the Philippines is rife with opportunists. Phishing scams targeting cryptocurrency communities on platforms like Discord and X are rampant, with scammers using deceptive texts and Facebook messages to lure victims. Former Axie players said that at the height of Axie’s popularity, some guild leaders exploited vulnerable players, charging them up to half their earnings as membership fees.
Bon said his role extends beyond providing computers and resources to guild members—he sees himself as a protector.
Many farmers at the Dela Cruz family farm in Pampanga province have started playing the video game Pixels and harvesting virtual crops to earn cryptocurrency as additional income
While cryptocurrency has been a blessing for many Filipinos, some say they can pivot to other industries if the sector fails again. Dela Cruz said he dreams of managing more farms with his brothers without relying on crypto for income.
“Fresh air, the sound of roosters crowing,” he said. “That’s something you can’t find online.”
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