EPISODE DESCRIPTION
I sat down with Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph, to dig into how they're building stablecoin infrastructure that's genuinely changing lives in the Philippines and beyond. Wei walked me through his journey from Goldman Sachs to Binance CFO to buying Coins.ph from Gojek in 2022 and rebuilding it from scratch. We talked about why the Philippines has become a global leader in stablecoin adoption, how they slashed payment fees from 4-8% down to near-zero for Filipino freelancers, and why Wei believes every country needs its own blockchain currency , not just a blockchain dollar. We also got into the Genius Act, the Clarity Act, the upcoming wave of tokenized assets, and what it will take for stablecoins to go truly global. This one is packed with real-world insight from someone actually in the trenches of building payments infrastructure at the intersection of crypto and emerging markets.
DISCLAIMER
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.
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CONNECT
Coins.ph Website: https://www.coins.ph/en-ph
Coins.ph Twitter/X: https://x.com/coinsph
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coins-ph/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coinsph_official
Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/
KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS
• [00:01] Introduction to Wei Zhou and Coins.ph, building stablecoin infrastructure for the Philippines
• [01:11] Wei's journey: Goldman Sachs, Binance CFO, buying Coins.ph from Gojek in 2022 and rebuilding it from scratch
• [04:49] Why the Philippines is a natural fit for stablecoin adoption , the gig economy, English fluency, and the unbanked
• [06:22] How Coins.ph cut payment fees from 4-8% (PayPal) to under 0.2% using USDC and USDT rails
• [09:36] New feature: users can now spend USDT and USDC directly without converting to pesos, protecting against FX losses
• [10:47] Financial literacy over crypto education , why Coins.ph focuses on helping people avoid scams first
• [15:44] The importance of being a licensed VASP and e-money issuer , stacking regulatory 'Lego blocks'
• [18:50] Institutional adoption in the US vs retail/payment adoption in emerging markets , why they differ
• [19:49] The Genius Act's impact on stablecoin growth and why the Clarity Act could unlock the next wave of token issuance
• [26:39] Why USD will remain dominant in stablecoins , mirroring the traditional FX market structure
• [33:47] Tokenization wave: NASDAQ, SWIFT, DTCC, and the SEC all moving toward blockchain-based assets
• [36:26] Coins.ph super app redesign , crypto payments via QR at local merchants with near-zero fees
• [36:58] PHP-C: a Philippine peso-backed stablecoin already in BSP sandbox, waiting for regulatory sign-off
• [38:03] Why every country needs 'blockchain pesos' to match blockchain dollars , currency sovereignty on-chain
• [39:56] Vision for Coins.ph: evolving into an all-in-one fintech with trading, payments, savings, investing, and lending
• [43:29] Expansion into Brazil and other regions, plus ongoing fundraising conversations
