Final 12 months former Binance Chief Monetary Officer Wei Zhou purchased Cash.ph, a cell pockets and digital foreign money trade, from Indonesian know-how firm Gojek. Cash.ph, additionally referred to as the Coinbase of Southeast Asia, was based in 2014 and was one of many earliest crypto wallets and exchanges within the Philippines. It later shifted its focus to offering broader monetary providers.
Zhou had beforehand left Binance for private causes. He had labored there for 3 years.
BCN: How do you are feeling about governments attempting to manage crypto platforms, which appears to be the development over the previous couple of years? Do you assume there’s a actual menace of misuse and cash laundering practices of unregulated platforms?
Wei Zhou: “I’m all for laws. The implications of an absence of laws might be dire and final 12 months, the crypto business acquired a stark reminder of this. FTX is the very best instance of why we’d like laws; being an offshore firm, the corporate wasn’t underneath the jurisdiction of regulators in most nations it operated in.
At Cash, we now have been working with regulators all through our 9 years of existence. We have been the primary Digital Asset Service Supplier (VASP) to carry each the Digital Forex and Digital Cash Issuer licenses from BSP. We proceed to work with the central financial institution and different regulators and are consistently audited to guard our customers.”
BCN: You posted a YouTube video about belief (During which you speak concerning the FTX collapse and folks shedding belief within the man behind the corporate Sam Bankman-Fried), so I feel this topic might be vital to you.
Do you assume belief is crucial factor on this business, or are different key components comparable to excessive inflation, rising rates of interest and struggle are extra vital key components within the success crypto is anticipated to have in 2023?
Wei Zhou: “Restoring belief in crypto is essential, nevertheless it’s certainly not the one issue that may decide the success of crypto this 12 months and sooner or later. Whereas inflation, rates of interest and the political local weather will play a giant function, I consider that good laws would be the largest consider restoring belief in crypto.
I’ve been within the Asian crypto marketplace for a number of years and Philippines regulators undertake a progress mindset in relation to crypto laws. As a result of reputation of Play to Earn video games, crypto has a web constructive case for Filipinos, because it opens alternatives to earn further revenue.”
BCN: Are you able to inform us extra about your organization Cash.ph, a cell pockets and digital foreign money trade? You purchased the corporate final 12 months, proper at a time when the crypto market was nonetheless in affordable form. What has modified to your firm and what are the prospects for 2023?
Wei Zhou: “Whereas the crypto market has seen a downturn amid the collapse of some international giants, our focus at Cash hasn’t modified. I took over this trade with the imaginative and prescient of bringing monetary liberation to tons of of thousands and thousands of individuals in Southeast Asia, beginning within the Philippines.
This 12 months, our goal is to turn into the Web3 gateway of alternative for the area. With play-to-earn gaming being so huge right here, we lately launched Cash Arcade to leverage this curiosity. Our revamped Cash Professional is Bangko Sentral of the Philippines regulated and licensed, and it affords the very best charges within the area for PHP to crypto merchants. Moreover, our QR PH integration was launched to offer further utility and use case for customers to scan and pay for his or her every day purchases with hundreds of offline retailers throughout the nation.”
BCN: Are you anticipated to make any adjustments inside your organization in 2023? What are your long-term plans and expectations?
Wei Zhou: “Cash envision a brand new method for customers to reside and earn on-line and to reside and spend offline and in the actual world. In 2023, we goal to develop providers for Filipinos to expertise Play to Earn gaming and to allow low-cost Pesos remittance transfers through blockchain know-how.
To ensure that Cash to bridge this gateway into crypto and to facilitate these funds, Cash must collaborate with companions to offer deep liquidity in Pesos. Therefore, we’re in search of long-term companions all in favour of constructing Pesos remittance rails.
We’re additionally seeking to additional develop our product into new markets past the Philippines.”
BCN: On the whole, do you consider in a constructive future for crypto and why?
Wei Zhou: “I consider that we’re nonetheless very early within the progress and adoption of cryptocurrencies.
To totally admire simply how a lot room for progress crypto has, I feel one simply wants to watch the Southeast Asian area. Whereas the West has targeted on hypothesis with crypto, this area is leveraging crypto for remittances, slicing down the prices and time taken to obtain their funds drastically. The Philippines is the world’s fourth largest recipient of remittances, and with platforms like Cash, thousands and thousands of Filipinos can now obtain funds from abroad in seconds and for a fraction of the associated fee they’ve paid for ages.
Southeast Asia can be the world’s play-to-earn gaming trailblazer. Axie Infinity confirmed the ability of P2E gaming and thousands and thousands of Filipinos have been in a position to feed their households by way of the sport. Axie and different video games nonetheless proceed to see thousands and thousands of customers for this area regardless of the general market downturn, proving that crypto’s largest market lies in real-life functions that ship worth to their customers, not simply hypothesis.”
BCN: Thanks to your time. Good luck along with your endeavours!