Philippine financial services provider Cebuana Lhuillier is building a stablecoin-powered payment rail in collaboration with digital asset infrastructure provider Fireblocks and supported by Solana blockchain, which will provide the underlying transaction architecture.
The new platform is designed to settle domestic and cross-border transactions using stablecoins rather than traditional legacy settlement systems, Inquirer reports.
Blockchain Integration and Infrastructure
Under the collaboration, Cebuana Lhuillier will integrate Fireblocks’ wallet technology, network connectivity, and reconciliation tools, the press release stated. This infrastructure will allow the company and its international partners to fund settlement accounts directly.
“Collaborating with Fireblocks gives us the infrastructure to deliver on that expectation at scale — across every branch, every corridor and every family we serve,” Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said in a statement. He noted that the technology is intended to update the backend infrastructure of the company’s existing physical branch network.
Retail Payment Digitalization Trends
The shift to blockchain-based settlement comes as digital transactions grow in the Philippines. According to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), digital payments represented 57.4% of total retail payment volume in 2024.
The central bank has established a target to digitalize 60% to 70% of retail payments by 2028. Ran Goldi, Senior Vice President of Payments and Network at Fireblocks, stated that the integration aims to deploy blockchain infrastructure across Cebuana Lhuillier’s network of more than 3,500 branches.
Cebuana Lhuillier’s transition to stablecoin settlement follows other domestic stablecoin implementations by local digital asset platforms, including exchange Coins.ph, which already utilize stablecoin-based settlement and remittance options. Coins.ph, in particular, utilizes stablecoin rails for cross-border transactions and recently launched its own Philippine Peso-pegged stablecoin, PHPC.
This initiative also builds upon Cebuana Lhuillier’s previous blockchain deployments. In November 2024, Cebuana Lhuillier collaborated with PayPal and local exchange Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) to enable PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin conversions to Philippine Pesos for Xoom remittances. Prior to that, in March 2023, the company said it integrated with the Stellar network to process fast, low-cost cross-border remittances.
This article is published on BitPinas: Cebuana Lhuillier to Build Stablecoin Payment Rail with Fireblocks, Solana Support
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