Pouch.ph, One Coop Tech roll out CoopPay to serve millions of cooperative members in the Philippines and ASEAN

In partnership with One Cooperative Technology Service (OCTS), the first and only CDA-registered technology service cooperative in the Philippines, Pouch.ph has launched CoopPay, a mobile wallet app that provides cooperatives, their members and families with a fast, cheap, and secure way to send and receive peso payments and bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network.

To mark National Cooperative Month last October, CoopPay successfully made an initial rollout to 100,000 members of the First Community Cooperative (FICCO), the largest community cooperative in the Philippines headquartered in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao, with a presence in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Luzon. Pouch.ph and One Coop Tech will extend the service to other cooperative groups across the country. 

More than 400 small businesses in PH now accept Bitcoin payments

Digital payment platform Pouch.ph is helping more local merchants join the new frontier of digital economy.

A payment fintech launched in 2021 is transforming the landscape of the Philippine digital economy by enabling more than 400 small businesses to accept and process Bitcoin payments. Pouch.ph is tapping into the country’s vast pool of tiny merchants—from mom-and-pop stores to boutique hotels.

Pouch.ph utilizes Lightning Network built atop Bitcoin to make digital payments quicker, cheaper, and more user-friendly. This payment protocol allows customers to pay by scanning a merchant's QR code with any Bitcoin wallet. Pouch.ph then converts that Bitcoin to Pesos and sends the money directly to the merchant's bank or mobile money account, making the process easy and efficient for both parties.

Pouch.ph launches Send Globally feature to ease money transfers from the Philippines to US banks

Pouch, the first lightning payment operator in the Philippines, introduces its latest app feature 'Send Globally’ to facilitate instant, low-cost, and safe money transfers from the Philippines to any bank account in the United States.

Pouch’s customers, including expats in the Philippines, are now able to send Philippine peso to the US via Pouch’s Send Globally feature. The funds will be paid out as U.S. dollars to the recipient’s US bank account.

“We strive to improve cross-border payments and make digital finance more inclusive for all. Enabling Send Globally for Pouch customers is a part of this. With Send Globally there is no need to go to a physical bank branch to send from the Philippines to US bank accounts. Pouch.ph is accessible to Filipinos from all backgrounds,” said Pouch CEO Ethan Rose.

Pouch.ph and Neutronpay join forces to offer lightning-fast remittance services to Filipino in Canada and Vietnam

Canadian-based digital payment platform Neutronpay today announced its partnership with Pouch.ph to enable fast, secure, and low-cost money transfers from Canada and Vietnam to the Philippines.

The partnership allows Filipino workers living in Canada or Vietnam to send money directly to a Philippine bank or eWallet instantly and with far better exchange rates than was previously possible.

Through Bitcoin's Lightning Network, Canadian dollars or Vietnamese dong are converted into Bitcoin. Pouch.ph then converts the Bitcoin into Philippine pesos and directly transfers to the recipient’s bank or mobile money account.

Venture capital firms bullish about Boracay, Bitcoin, and the Lightning Network

Pouch.ph unveils the future of lightning payments at the first Bitcoin Island Retreat

As the US banking crisis and regulatory scrutiny continue to unfold, Bitcoin shows resilience by posting its third positive month in a row. This recent streak of positive gains for Bitcoin signals a strong outlook for the cryptocurrency, the lightning network, and the island of Boracay, as expressed by venture capitalists and government leaders during the first Bitcoin Island Retreat, which happened on March 27 to 29, 2023, at the Henann Regency Resort and Spa in Boracay Island.

Augie Ilag, HodlCo venture partner and former Sequoia Capital crypto investor, said that Boracay has the potential to revolutionize the remittance market using the Bitcoin Lightning Network.