Later this year several Filipino banks are planning to launch a multi bank peso stablecoin, PHPX, which will initially operate on the Hedera DLT network. The banks include Rizal Commercial Banking, Cantilan Bank and the Rural Bank of Guinobatan as well as UBX, the fintech spin off of UnionBank of the Philippines. Singapore startup Just Finance is the initiator, but the banks will have a significant role in the governance. Given a key goal is cross border payments, the plans include more than just a stablecoin. There’s a need to exchange stablecoins in different currencies.
UBX, has been involved in blockchain for years including managing a quasi stablecoin network, albeit in a closed loop system. In 2018 it set up a token-based automated clearing house (ACH) to enable payments for rural and community banks that were not members of the national retail payment system (NRPS) to funnel them via UnionBank. That system uses a permissioned version of Ethereum and the more-or-less invisible backend token is PHX, not to be confused with PHPX the planned new stablecoin.
While the ACH has served its purpose, it’s time to take the next step. “We need to create something that is publicly exchangeable, so that we can support use cases outside of our own closed loop ecosystem,” said John Januszczak, UBX CEO, during an interview with Ledger Insights. He also wants to support stablecoins beyond that created by UBX.
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