After a recent round of fundraising, Voyager Innovations, the company behind the Philippines’ most popular digital payments software Paymaya, has announced that it has achieved unicorn status, achieving a $1 billion valuation. The fresh $210 million funding raised Voyager Innovation’s valuation to $1.4 billion on Tuesday. The fresh funds will be used to develop crypto products that the firm recently added to its main digital payments software PayMaya, according to the company.
PayMaya has recently added cryptocurrency services to its app, allowing users to purchase, sell, and earn cryptocurrency. The recent funds will be utilized to expand the cryptocurrency offerings. The Philippine Central Bank recently granted PayMaya a Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) license. The money will also go toward PayMaya-branded digital bank services like savings and credit.
The majority of the Philippine population, according to Voyager, is “underserved” in terms of internet and digital money. It intends to capitalize on this by broadening its market reach. PayMaya had over 47 million users as of March 31.
Although the crypto markets are in a downturn, the funding for crypto expansion shows that the interest in crypto has not died down. It could be argued that most are eagerly awaiting the next run in space.
Philippines crypto adoption
Cryptocurrency usage is projected to rise as the Philippines ‘ internet commerce expands. Currently, there are no restrictions on the trade of digital currencies in the Philippines. The central bank, on the other hand, has repeatedly warned investors about the dangers of the embryonic market, and NFTs.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor, Benjamin E. Diokno said at a virtual briefing,
“We wish to emphasize that there are risks associated with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) such as price volatility, which may resort to significant financial losses and also other types of risk relating to cyber fraud and scams.”
Bridget Rose M. Mesina-Romero, deputy director of the BSP’s Payment System Oversight Department, said users should be aware of the hazards inherent with play-to-earn games, regarding the Ronin bridge hack on Axie Infinity.
To capitalize on the increasing popularity of digital tokens in the Asian nation, the Union Bank of the Philippines announced intentions to offer trading and custodian services for cryptocurrencies in January 2022.
Cathy Casas, the bank’s head of blockchain and application programming interfaces, stated,
“It’s a way to future-proof our banking business.”