THE Philippines could have as much as $60 billion in tokenized assets by 2030 given its rapid adoption of the technology and cryptocurrencies, industry players said on Thursday.
The market will include government bonds, mutual funds, stocks and other investment products, the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange, Saison Capital and Onigiri Capital said in a white paper titled “Project Bayani: The Philippines’ Asset Tokenization Opportunity.”
Tokenization involves making secure digital versions of real-world assets using blockchain technology.
Of the $60 billion, $26 billion is expected to comprise stocks, followed by government bonds at $24 billion, mutual funds at $6 billion and an additional $4 billion from other financial assets.
The country, described as one of the world’s most digitally connected, was said to have leveraged mobile wallets to distribute tokenized investment products.
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“The Philippines is unique in its rapid adoption of tokenization and cryptocurrencies, while lagging in the adoption of traditional investment products,” the industry players said in a statement.
“According to the research, 14 percent of Filipinos already own cryptocurrencies, compared to less than 5 percent who own stocks, bonds or mutual funds,” they added.
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With mobile wallets such as GCash, Maya, PDAX and Coins.ph allowing users to hold cryptocurrencies and tokenized investment products, the white paper said that “the first investment product most Filipinos will own will be in tokenized form.”
“[B]lockchain wallets are already mainstream,” PDAX founder and CEO Nichel Gaba said.
“We’re not starting from scratch. The infrastructure to deliver tokenized assets to millions of Filipinos already exists in their pockets. Our focus now is to connect that infrastructure to real, regulated financial products.”
The Bureau of the Treasury has partnered with PDAX and GCash to distribute tokenized government bonds.
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National Treasurer Sharon Alamanza said this had opened more investment opportunities to Filipinos with the entry minimum having been lowered to P500.
