nChain’s Nicolas Asscher-Telese: The Philippines will be the first sovereign nation to use blockchain

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The Philippines promises to become the blockchain hub in Southeast Asia, and one of the drivers helping the country is nChain, an international firm focused on providing global blockchain solutions to the world.

During the nChain Blockchain Meetup at the Manila House Private Club in Bonifacio Global City, CoinGeek Backstage’s Claire Celdran was joined by nChain’s Senior Investment Associate Nicolas Asscher-Telese in an interview that touched on the firm’s projects in the Philippines, how they work with national and local government agencies , and their plans for the country, especially in its blockchain work.

“I’ve been here in Manila helping the government integrate Web3 solutions into the government,” Asscher-Telese said.

Asscher-Telese shared that nChain has been busy in recent months because they have been in talks with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as well as the central bank to explain how nChain can help integrate solutions and create more efficient processes across government and the financial systems of the country – enabling these agencies to become more innovative, efficient and productive.

The investment officer of nChain stated that everything they have done with the Philippines is long-term.

“It’s definitely a long-term project,” Telese pointed out. Although the discussions have been at an introductory level, Asscher-Telese shared that the public agencies are happy with the technology and even stated that they are confident that nChain will deliver on its promises.

Earlier this year, the global blockchain solutions firm entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the provincial government of Bataan to establish a digital platform for the province as part of the digitization drive led by the presidency of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Asscher-Telese hopes that the project will be completed in 2024.

nChain @nChainGlobal to host the Provincial Government of Bataan for exciting discussions on how to implement Blockchain solutions for Bataan with the aim of improving the efficiency and transparency of government operations as well as providing innovative, secure and… pic.twitter.com/e67Sxq2WPl

— Christen Ager-Hanssen (@agerhanssen) 15 May 2023

nChain is also working with DICT to optimize public services, helping the department digitize its processes to create business and signature systems.

“The problem in the Philippines is that the government is spread over 7,000 islands with 1,700 local governments, and they have very inefficient communication systems. And so our hope is to enable people to interact and be integrated into the financial system of the government like never before, ” explained Asscher-Telese.

Asscher-Telese shared that they hope to integrate more people into financial systems – such as banks – using blockchain. It’s no secret that setting up a bank account and transacting in the Philippines is expensive, with fees ranging as high as $1 or more—with blockchain, Asscher-Telese notes that transaction fees will be cut down to a fraction of a cent.

“45% of the population in the Philippines is unbanked. We can really help integrate that whole part of the population and again enable them to be productive and be innovative citizens, which has never been done before, he said.

“This would be wonderful for the Philippines because it would be the first sovereign nation to use this technology and see the benefits it brings. I think it would build a good reputation for the Philippines to be able to bring this technology to the world,” Asscher-Telese added.

See nChain Manila Blockchain Meetup: Preparing the Philippines for blockchain revolution

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