One of the largest Universal banks based in the Philippines has recently announced that it is getting into cryptocurrencies.
According to the officials at the Union Bank of the Philippines, they are working on the enablement of trading in cryptocurrencies.
UnionBank to Launch ETH and BTC Trading
Commonly known as the UnionBank, the institution is aiming to launch trading services in Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC).
The firm has announced that so far, they have launched the pilot for the trading and custody services for their customers. As per the officials, they are going to enable the service for select retail customers.
According to the reports, the bank reportedly made the announcement about the enablement of services on November 2.
UnionBank’s Collaboration with Metaco
The reports confirm that UnionBank has reportedly partnered with Metaco to launch cryptocurrency trading and custody services.
Metaco is a major cryptocurrency technology firm that is based in Switzerland. As communicated by the officials, the services would be launched via Harmonize. It is a digital asset platform powered by Metaco.
The collaboration between both firms had been announced back in January 2022. It was announced that the partnership would be for the development of a platform used for the trading purpose of crypto.
BSP has licensed the Project
The UnionBank officials have confirmed that they have not worked on the project without regulatory approval. Instead, they have acquired proper licensing in order to work on the project.
According to the officials, they have acquired the licensing from the BangkoSentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The particular regulator would be responsible for the supervision and licensing of the service.
UnionBank is interested in Adopt Cryptocurrencies
UnionBank is not new to the cryptocurrency industry as it has been gathering information and knowledge of the cryptocurrency industry for a while. According to UnionBank officials, they have been exploring the cryptocurrency industry for the past couple of years.
Throughout the time period, they have gathered enough knowledge and information that they are confident would let them sail through the cryptocurrency industry without facing any troubles.
UnionBank’s Exposure to Stablecoins
Prior to getting into the cryptocurrencies, the UnionBank had interacted with the crypto-verse through the stablecoin. They had entered the particular space and launched a payment service for the locals that was for a stablecoin pegged with the Philippine peso.
The chief transformation and technology officer at the UnionBank, Henry Aguda was glad to be part of a team in the Philippines to be launching a trading service for customers with access to cryptocurrencies.
He stated that they have always wanted to stay customer-centric and offering crypto trading services is something that ensures that they are taking the right steps to achieve their goal.