Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is launching a pilot test of a stablecoin backed by the Philippine peso. The initiative will test the asset’s performance and its use in payments, commerce, and DeFi apps.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), in collaboration with Coins.ph, a local crypto exchange, announced the launch of a pilot project of the PHPC national stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso.
The asset will be tested, and all stablecoin transactions will occur under the BSP’s regulatory sandbox launched in 2022. Under the project, Coins.ph will act as the asset issuer and maintain reserves equivalent to the volume of PHPC circulating in the test environment.
Stablecoin testing is designed to assess its real-world performance and impact on the country’s financial ecosystem. As part of the project, the use of PHPC will be tested in:
- cross-border and domestic payments;
- trading paired with other digital assets;
- hedging against market volatility;
- providing liquidity in DeFi apps.
The testing results will determine the asset’s future and whether it can be officially deployed outside of the test environment. BSP will decide on the release of PHPC based on the test results, which may last three to twelve months.
The BSP finally started testing a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), the pilot of which was scheduled to be launched in 2022.
