MANILA -- Digital wallet and cryptocurrency investment platform Coins.ph is expanding into Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Africa this year.

In a statement, the company said it has acquired licenses in the 4 regions.

In a media roundtable on Thursday, Coins.ph chief executive officer Wei Zhou said they did this to bring their services to more Filipinos around the world.

He noted that Coins.ph can be used to send remittances in the form of cryptocurrency.

"If you’re a Coins user in Australia, you can directly deposit Aussie dollars into [Coins.ph], and then you can buy stablecoins, right, and then basically send them to a Coins user in the Philippines," he said.

A stablecoin is a kind of cryptocurrency that is backed 1-to-1 by a fiat or government-backed currency.

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Asked why they didn't acquire licenses in Asian or North American countries where more overseas Filipinos are found, Zhou said this was too expensive.

"Getting a license in the US costs millions of dollars," Zhou said, adding that this is also true for Japan and Korea, Hong Kong.

He stressed, however, that they are aiming for partnerships in this region to serve Filipinos there.

"In those regions, we hope to be able to build partnerships, we hope to be able to leverage our relationship with certain USDC, leverage off of their licenses and their partnerships in those regions, to basically provide our services," he explained.

The USDC is a kind of stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.

Coins.ph said they have 18 million users in the Philippines, but Zhou noted that 80 percent of these are dormant. He said that on average, they only have 200,000 to 300,000 users monthly.

"This year, we’re gonna have a major campaign to recall those users back. I think the app itself wasn’t perfect in the last couple of years, and I think, as we made it better, we hope [to]...basically recall our lost users," he said.

Zhou said he hopes to double the total number of Coins.ph users by the end of the year.

The executive also said he is optimistic about the Coins.ph's growth in the Philippines, despite the presence of 6 digital banks which makes it easier for customers to get key financial products in the country.

"I think, fundamentally we sit on top of a different technology," he said.

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He said blockchain is doing to finance what Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok have done for the internet.

"I’ll put it this way: these banks solve a different need than the need that we’re solving. These banks basically allow you to store money, to get interest, and they will lend you money to make money for themselves. That’s the business model."

"Our business model is very different. We’re offering our users an access to an entirely different financial world. And I think this speaks to the power of crypto, is that it’s the only asset class that trades 24/7. And that anyone, anywhere in the world can access," he said.