Philippines' Oldest Bank Plans to Pilot Stablecoin Cross-Border Payments

Pilot Program

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI, the Philippines' oldest bank) is planning to pilot a stablecoin-based cross-border payment corridor. According to local media, the bank will work with compliant stablecoin infrastructure to offer USD stablecoin services for overseas Filipino remittances and select corporate cross-border settlements. Technical details and launch timeline have not yet been disclosed.

Industry Impact

Traditional commercial banks proactively integrating stablecoin settlement signals that the two-way on- and off-ramp demand between fiat and stablecoins within sovereign payment systems is moving from the fringe to the mainstream. In such cross-border remittance scenarios, compliance reviews and risk controls before settlement—such as KYA (Know Your Account) and sanctions screening—are expected to become core regulatory focuses.