Coins.ph CEO: 1% Payment Waste Costs Classrooms Millions
At the 2026 Philippine Councilors League National Congress, Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou demonstrated how a single percentage point of payment inefficiency in an LGU with ₱646.08 million ($10.8 million) annual revenue equals ₱6,460,759 ($108,000) in lost funding — money that never reaches scholarships, classrooms, or families.
Key Takeaway
Zhou reframed payment inefficiency as a direct hit to public welfare — every percentage point of waste is funding that never reaches schools or families.
Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou asked local legislators at the 2026 Philippine Councilors League National Congress to calculate the real cost of payment inefficiencies in their jurisdictions.
Zhou used an example of an LGU with ₱646.08 million ($10.8 million) in annual revenue. A 1% inefficiency — from manual processing delays, cash handling errors, or reconciliation gaps — equals ₱6,460,759 ($108,000) lost. Zhou said that amount translates directly into scholarships not funded, classrooms not built, and families not supported. He framed administrative friction as an invisible tax that hits public services before money reaches beneficiaries.
Coins.ph processed ₱717.86 million ($12 million) in monthly QR Ph transactions at the start of 2025. Twelve months later, that number reached ₱38.59 billion ($645 million). The BSP-regulated platform handles 140 million transactions monthly across 18 million registered users, with 99.9% uptime and 50-millisecond API latency. Zhou pointed to infrastructure already connecting 120 banks and e-wallets as proof that modernization works at scale.
Digital payments now represent 57.4% of retail payment volume in the Philippines, according to a 2024 Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas report. But LGUs lag behind. Manual payment processes that take 45 minutes can shrink to 15 seconds with digital rails, Zhou said. He described the shift as a leadership decision, not a technical one — local officials choosing to design systems that default to efficiency rather than accepting legacy friction.
Coins.ph has operated for 12 years and became the first BSP-licensed Virtual Asset Service Provider in 2021. Zhou told the councilors that modernization will happen regardless of their timeline, but timing determines who leads the change. His closing message: design decisions are leadership decisions, and local leaders have the authority to make public services more efficient, resilient, and inclusive for every Filipino through platforms like QR Ph connecting to 120 banks and e-wallets today.
🇵🇭 What This Means for Filipinos: If your city or municipality still requires in-person cash payments for business permits, real property tax, or social services, Zhou's math applies directly to your LGU's budget. Every hour spent in manual reconciliation is an hour not spent delivering services. BSP-licensed platforms like Coins.ph and PDAX already connect to QR Ph — the infrastructure exists for LGUs to adopt digital collections today.
