Ron Hose: Bitcoin is great for all the ‘unbanked’ people in the Philippines
The majority of people in the Philippines don’t have bank accounts or credit cards. The largely ‘unbanked’ population is an issue that the country is trying to tackle as it slows down the growth of things like ecommerce. Bitcoin can be a solution to this problem in the Philippines, according to Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur Ron Hose. He has created a Bitcoin trading site for the Philippines called Coins.ph. As of last year, only 32 percent of Filipinos had a bank account. Of this number, only three percent owned a credit card. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III once noted....
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When daily deals giant MetroDeal, the Philippines' number two e-commerce website, seemingly went live with a bitcoin payments option last week, it was a clear sign that major merchants in the 97-million-strong nation were beginning to take the digital currency seriously. However, it turns out, that MetroDeal's bitcoin payments test only told part of the story. Coins.ph, the bitcoin payment service powering MetroDeal's checkout, officially launched today by adding yet another major Philippines-based merchant to its roster - angel-funded flash deals startup CashCashPinoy. Such quick merchant....
Bitcoin startups are emerging across Asia as entrepreneurs begin to see bitcoin's potential to improve the region's inefficient payments infrastructure and bolster its relative absence of advanced financial tools. One Asian nation that is increasingly active in the bitcoin space is the Philippines, which is being led by perhaps its most well-known startup, Coins.ph, a bitcoin exchange service and merchant processor that has so far inked two deals with major local merchants. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Ron Hose, a graduate of Cornell, a founding partner at Innovation Endeavors....
Bitcoin services firm Coins.ph has launched Teller, a mobile app that matches up its customers in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand via the blockchain as a way to facilitate financial services. Teller users who want to access funds for mobile phone top-ups and remittances, for example, can use the app to find a third-party seller to accept local currency, allowing the buyer to gain access to digital money. All transactions are denominated and held in local currency, with Coins.ph using the blockchain as the rails to facilitate the exchange of funds. Coins.ph CEO Ron Hose indicated....
A California-based bitcoin startup has been accepting donations for relief for the typhoon-stricken Philippines. Its efforts appear to be working quite well to raise awareness for the problems the storm has created in the south-east Asian nation. "The Philippines bitcoin donation campaign that we're running got some great coverage from CNN Money which helped kickstart things," says Avish Bhama, CEO of Vaurum, which owns the bitcoin exchange Bitme that is running the donation campaign. "We're raising bitcoins and are donating 100% of the wallet to the Philippines Red Cross. We raised about....
Philippines-based exchange Coins.ph today released a mobile bitcoin wallet app with features the company says are aimed squarely at emerging market use cases. As well as standard wallet functions, the Android-only app allows users to buy and sell bitcoin through various channels, top up prepaid mobile phones, pay bills, and even work as a mobile remittance service by converting to Philippines pesos. Coins.ph Android app main page. Coins.ph CEO Ron Hose said the intent is to provide simple solutions starting from the most basic, giving everyone a safe and convenient way to use their money.....