TechFlow reported on January 9 that, according to Ledger Insights, several banks in the Philippines, including UnionBank and RCBC, plan to issue a multi-issuer stablecoin called PHPX on the Hedera network between May and July 2025. The project is initiated by Singapore-based startup Just Finance and primarily targets the cross-border remittance market, which has an annual transaction volume of up to $40 billion. PHPX will be backed by government bonds held in segregated trust accounts to mitigate risks associated with bank insolvency, and it plans to support exchange transactions with other stablecoins such as USD, SGD, and JPY.
John Januszczak, CEO of UBX, UnionBank's fintech subsidiary, said PHPX will allow overseas Filipino workers to directly pay for domestic expenses such as tuition and insurance with real-time settlement, overcoming the current retail payment system’s $1,000 transaction limit. The system will support multiple deposit and withdrawal methods, including bank accounts, G Cash wallets, and over-the-counter cash withdrawals. The project has chosen the permissioned Hedera blockchain to comply with the Basel Committee's crypto asset regulations and reduce banks’ operational costs. In the future, additional use cases such as retail payments may be introduced if permitted by regulators.
