Coins.ph CEO: 1% Payment Inefficiency Costs LGUs ₱5,978,061 ($100,000)
Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou challenged thousands of Philippine councilors to modernize public collection systems, calling administrative friction an invisible tax. Manual payment processes taking 45 minutes can be replaced by 15-second digital transactions.
Key Takeaway
Zhou's pitch: LGU payment inefficiency isn't just administrative waste — it's money that could build schools.
Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou told thousands of local legislators at the 2026 Philippine Councilors League National Congress that even a 1% inefficiency on a ₱597.81 million ($10 million) revenue base equals $100,000 lost. He asked councilors to consider how many scholarships, classrooms, or families that money could support. Zhou called administrative friction an invisible tax that drains resources from communities. Manual payment processes that take 45 minutes can be replaced by 15-second digital transactions.
Coins.ph processed ₱35.87 billion ($600 million) in monthly QR Ph transactions within 12 months in 2025, up from ₱657.59 million ($11 million) the prior year. The company runs 18 million registered accounts and handles 140 million transactions monthly with 99.9% uptime and 50-millisecond API latency. It integrates with 120 banks and e-wallets.
Zhou, who served as Binance CFO from 2018 to 2021 when it became the world's largest exchange, told the councilors that design decisions are leadership decisions. He said modernization will happen regardless, but timing determines who leads the change. The platform holds three separate licenses in the Philippines and operates the country's largest regulated cryptocurrency exchange.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that digital payments reached 57.4% of retail payment volume in 2024. Coins.ph launched PHPC, a peso-backed stablecoin approved by BSP, to address payment efficiency concerns. The company has secured licenses to operate in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Australia, having expanded into Australia and Brazil in 2025.
Zhou ended his speech by inviting local leaders to make public services more efficient, resilient, and inclusive for every Filipino, with Coins.ph having operated for 12 years in the Philippines.
🇵🇭 What This Means for Filipinos: With 57.4% digital payment adoption nationwide, LGUs that still rely on manual collection processes are leaving money on the table. Coins.ph's PHPC stablecoin and 120-bank integration infrastructure offer councilors a BSP-approved path to modernize tax, utility, and permit payments — potentially recovering millions in administrative losses that could fund local programs.
