The Blockchain Council of the Philippines (BCP) has named Luis Buenaventura as its new president. Buenaventura currently represents GCash (Mynt – Globe Fintech Innovations) on the BCP board in his role as Head of Cryptocurrencies.
BCP chair Donald Lim will continue to serve as chairman, providing continuity as the council pursues its mission of promoting responsible blockchain innovation in support of national development. He previously served as the Philippine country manager of Yield Guild Games and is a co-founder of BloomX, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange. He is also recognised as the first Filipino NFT artist to have works sold at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
“The Council’s role is more critical than ever this 2026, both in terms of industry partnerships and nation-building,” Buenaventura said. “We look forward to open collaboration with the wider blockchain community.”
The leadership change comes at a time of heightened regulatory attention on emerging technologies in the Philippines. Earlier this month, the government ordered the immediate nationwide blocking of the artificial intelligence tool Grok, citing concerns over public safety, particularly the protection of women and minors.
The directive, issued by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on 16 January, required internet service providers to block access within twenty-four hours. Approval by the National Telecommunications Commission made the ban effective immediately.
According to Newsbytes.PH, DICT Secretary Henry Aguda invoked Republic Act 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, as the legal basis for the action, signalling a more assertive stance on technology governance.
Despite increased scrutiny, the Philippines’ blockchain sector continues to show strong growth potential. A white paper released by local crypto exchange PDAX, in partnership with Saison Capital and Onigiri Capital, estimates the country could unlock a $60 billion tokenised-asset market by 2030. Meanwhile, public equities are projected to reach $26 billion, government bonds $24 billion, mutual funds $6 billion, and other assets are expected to hit $4 billion by 2030.
The report, titled Project Bayani: The Philippines’ Asset Tokenization Opportunity, highlights tokenised government bonds, equities and mutual funds as key drivers of financial inclusion and capital-market modernisation.
While just under five percent of Filipinos invest in traditional markets such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, 14 percent already own cryptocurrencies, signalling that the population is more comfortable with digital-native financial products.
Industry leaders are also focusing on skills development. Filipino edutech firm Bitskwela recently launched BitDev, a blockchain-enabled microlearning platform designed to help Web2 developers transition into job-ready Web3 roles.
According to a 2023 global developer report, only 203 of the Philippines’ 190,000 software developers currently specialise in blockchain, underlining a significant skills gap. Bitskwela chief executive Jiro Reyes said the shortage presents both a challenge and an opportunity. “Our vision is to transform the Philippines into a hub of world-class blockchain builders, and the BitDev platform is a step closer towards that,” he said then.
BitDev is powered by a specialised Integrated Development Environment (IDE), a software approach widely used among global Web3 developers. The platform is designed to simplify the often steep learning curve associated with blockchain development, covering everything from understanding gas fees to compiling smart contract code.
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