The Philippine Block Awards honored the country’s top blockchain innovators
Manila, Philippines – Philippine Blockchain Week is proud to present the honorees of the first ever Philippine Block Awards, which included leaders in the financial, technology and business industries to support and promote the use of blockchain in the country.
The Philippine Block Awards was the closing ceremony of the highly successful inaugural Philippine Blockchain Week which featured thought leaders innovators in blockchain, crypto, web3, NFTs and gaming from around the world.
Leader of the year and leader of the future
UnionBank of the Philippines Chairman Justo A. Ortiz received The award for manager of the year. Dr. Ortiz is the chairman of the Fintech Association of the Philippines, the Blockchain Association of the Philippines and Philippine Payments Management, Inc. He is also a board member of the Global Fintech Alliance founded in Denmark.
Rien Lewis Pecson, the eighth grader who created the world’s first blockchain-based voting platform, iVote.ph, was awarded the award Blockchain leader for the future. Pecson was just 12 years old when he developed the platform with artist Neil Fernandez, Jr., who created the NFT art.
“Dr. Ortiz has helped pave the way for the financial industry to adopt Web3 technology. He leads many of the country’s blockchain groups. Meanwhile, Rien has shown us that young people can make a change in the world through blockchain. We hope that Filipinos will be inspired by their work and start learning more about the technology,” Lim said.
Blockchain Champions
Declared Filipino block champions were Atty. Mark S. Gorriceta, Managing Partner and Head of the Technology Media and Telecommunications Group at Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra; Ann J. Cuisia, CEO of Traxion Tech; Atty. Kelvin Lester K. Lee, Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Imelda C. Tiongson, President and Execom Member of Opal Portfolio Investments, Inc., Independent Director of PruLife UK, and a Trustee of both the Fintech Alliance Ph and the Fintech Association of the Philippines; Henry Rhoel R. Aguda, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology & Ops Officer of UnionBank of the Philippines; Luis Buenaventura II, Country Manager for Yield Guild Games; Gail Concepcion Cruz-Macapagal, Country Director of DynaQuest Technology Services, Inc.; Nichel O. Gaba, CEO of the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange; Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games; and Miguel Cuneta, founder of Bitmark.ph and co-founder and community manager of Satoshi Citadel Industries.
“These are the men and women who have advanced the use of blockchain and Web3 technologies in the Philippines. They are also the ones leading its adoption and pushing for the Philippines to be the blockchain hub in Asia,” said Dr. Donald Lim , keynote speaker for Philippine Blockchain Week.
Lim said the success of the first Philippine Blockchain Week is an indication that Filipinos welcome blockchain adoption and that the world recognizes its potential.
“With the government’s help, we know we can make the Philippines the blockchain hub in the region,” he said.
Philippine Blockchain Week is powered by the following major sponsors 1inch, Tetrix, NChain, GCash, Coins.ph, DVCode, Ark of Dream, iPay88 and Maya.
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