Another major bank announced it will offer bitcoin and crypto trading to its customers.
Union Bank, one of the largest banks in the Philippines, will be rolling out the new feature to a select number of customers before making it available to its entire user base.
Cathy Casas, a spokesperson of Union Bank, said in a statement:
“At the same time, we also recognize that cryptocurrency has been one of the services that a lot of customers are already looking for, especially the younger generation, and this demand was accelerated by the pandemic.”
Union Bank is the first universal bank in the Philippines to offer bitcoin custody and trading to customers in the Philippines. It is the 10th largest bank in the Philippines based on total assets under management.
Laster year, the bank began preparations to pilot a bitcoin and crypto custody service.
While there are several digital banks such as Maya, which already offer bitcoin and crypto trading to customers, Union Bank will be the first major traditional bank to offer this type of service to customers.
Customers will be able to buy and hold bitcoin directly using Union Bank’s mobile app, without having to use a third-party wallet. This is more convenient and potentially helpful for bitcoin’s adoption, but increases centralization and counter-party risk.
As the recent cascade in the bitcoin and crypto market has shown, holding bitcoin with a third-party custodian means that withdrawals can be halted. As bitcoiners like to say: “Not your keys, not your coins”.
According to reports Union Bank received a license to operate as a cryptocurrency exchange by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippines’ central bank.
The Philippine peso currently has a year-over-year inflation rate of 6.4%. This number is lower than the double-digit inflation rate in many other countries and even the current U.S. inflation rate of 8.5%.
