While eWallets like Maya and GCash offer crypto trading, they are limited to just buying and selling crypto assets. These platforms do not have the ability to conduct transactions using crypto assets, so this meant that you cannot do peer-to-peer transactions. This is what makes Unionbank different after it gained a license to operate as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) by the BSP. This means that Unionbank is the only bank in the Philippines that allows peer-to-peer transactions of virtual assets like crypto.

The VASP license granted to Unionbank means that its customers can engage in transactions using crypto like Bitcoin, giving them more modes of payment other than the usual cash. With that, Unionbank customers will be able to do both traditional and virtual transactions through their mobile app. Prior to receiving a full license from the BSP, only select users were given access to Unionbank’s virtual asset exchange services.

Unionbank has been pushing to make virtual assets more accessible to the public for the past few years. Back in 2019, the bank opened its first two-way virtual currency ATM in its digital branch in Makati, where it offered buying and selling crypto.

Back in June, BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said that they are not interested in regulating crypto. However, their granting of a VASP license to Unionbank shows that the BSP is changing their stance with regulating crypto in the Philippines. This development is a big step for digital finance in the Philippines—we just hope that this should reduce all of the scams that involve crypto.