Filipinos can now spend bitcoin and ethereum at nearly 700,000 local merchants, after Coins.ph plugged the two cryptocurrencies into the country's national QR Ph network. The integration, announced this week, lets users pay at participating stores, restaurants, and services by scanning a QR code from the Coins.ph app—no separate terminal or conversion needed.
How the QR Ph integration works
QR Ph is the Philippines' standardised payment QR code system, already used by banks, e-wallets, and fintech apps like GCash and Maya. By integrating bitcoin and ethereum into that same network, Coins.ph effectively turns every QR Ph merchant into a crypto-accepting point of sale. When a customer pays, the app converts the crypto to Philippine pesos at the point of transaction and settles with the merchant in fiat—meaning the store doesn't have to handle or price crypto itself.
The process is seamless from the user side: open Coins.ph, tap pay, scan the merchant's QR Ph code, confirm the amount. The merchant receives pesos, the customer spends crypto. No additional hardware or software installation was required for the stores.
Scale of the rollout
The 700,000 figure covers most merchants that already display QR Ph codes—a network that spans sari-sari stores, food chains, gas stations, and even market vendors. For context, that's roughly one QR Ph-enabled merchant for every 160 Filipinos. Coins.ph says the integration went live this month and covers both bitcoin and ethereum for now, with no immediate announcement on additional assets.
The timing puts Coins.ph ahead of other local crypto platforms. While the Philippines has been a testing ground for crypto adoption—partly driven by remittances and the unbanked—most everyday payments still happen in cash or through GCash. Adding crypto to the national QR network removes a major friction point: users no longer need to find a merchant that explicitly accepts crypto or deal with slow on-chain confirmations.
Getting crypto into the hands of real merchants, at scale, is the part that usually stalls. The Philippines now has a working example: a licensed exchange (Coins.ph holds a Virtual Asset Service Provider license from the central bank) connecting its wallet to a payment rail that people already use. That's a more practical path to mainstream adoption than building a separate merchant network from scratch.
For bitcoin and ethereum holders, the appeal is obvious—they can spend directly instead of cashing out to pesos first. For Coins.ph, it's a way to increase wallet activity and lock in users who might otherwise keep crypto idle. The move also puts pressure on rival exchange platforms: if they don't offer similar QR Ph integration, they risk losing customers who want to actually spend their crypto.
For now, nearly 700,000 merchants across the Philippines are ready to accept bitcoin and ethereum through Coins.ph. That's a lot of cups of coffee paid with satoshis.
