Philippines

DA, PhilSA sign 5-year deal to use satellites for farms, fishing areas

The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) have signed a five-year deal to use satellite technology to help monitor and protect farms and fishing areas.

finance

Fintech News PH

BSP Reports US$3.24 Billion in Cash Remittances for July 2026

Philippines saw that cash remittances reached US$3.24 billion in July 2026, up 1.9% from US$3.18 billion in July 2025, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The United States remained the top source of inflows, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia, based on repor…

27 days ago

Skyro Rebrands, Shifting From Consumer Lender to Financial Ecosystem

Skyro has begun rolling out a refreshed visual identity, launching first with a redesigned app in the Philippines on September 15. A wider rollout across all markets, advertising and partner touchpoints will follow in the coming weeks. The rebrand marks Skyro’s shift from a cons…

Ex-Google DeepMind researcher adds to warnings that AI could 'kill all humans'

A former Google DeepMind employee on Monday became the latest AI researcher to warn that the technology could "kill all humans", saying time could be running out to avoid the outcome.

As '80s AI trend goes viral, experts warn of privacy, environmental risks

The '80s AI photo trend may be entertaining, but experts have warned users about the potential risks associated with such trends.

Filipinos Can Now Send Money Abroad Through M Lhuillier and Ria

Ria Money Transfer is expanding its Outbound Service in the Philippines, working with M Lhuillier Financial Services to offer the service across its more than 3,000 branches nationwide, according to Ria Philippines’ President and CEO, Steve Peregrino’s LinkedIn post. The service…

Be the Bank That Scales in 2027 with AI

For fifty years, core banking systems were designed around one user: a person at a screen. Screens, workflows, overnight batch, all of it built on the same assumption; that a person clicks the buttons. That assumption has expired. AI agents read, decide and act without clicking…

GCash Is Racing Three Other Ant-Backed Wallets to Go Public First, and It’s About to Win

GCash is going public in Manila, but investors in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok will read that number just as closely. The reason comes down to one investor. Ant Group holds a stake in GCash, and a comparable stake in three of the region’s other biggest e-wallets, Malaysia’s…

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Turns Out Filipinos Will Use Digital Banking Much More If You Stop Charging Them ₱15 Per Transfer

A landmark BSP-IPA study reveals that waiving InstaPay transfer fees doubles transaction activity and activates cash-reliant Filipinos.

What Is a Bitcoin IRA? How to Hold Cryptocurrency Inside a Tax-Advantaged Retirement Account

Bitcoin is trading over $78,000 as of early September 2026. And it’s still about 38% down from its October 2025 high. Max out a Traditional or Roth IRA this year at the 2026 limit of $7,500, and you’ve bought roughly 11.5% of one single coin. That’s just the tip of the whole sto…

Microsoft drafts code of conduct to keep its AI under human control

Microsoft on Monday unveiled a draft code of conduct for its in-house artificial intelligence that reflects growing industry concern that companies must keep future powerful AI under human control.

Maya’s New Bukad Card Marks Its Full Shift to Recycled Plastic

Maya has launched the Bukad Card, a special-edition Visa-powered card featuring illustrations by Filipino artist Raxenne Maniquiz, according to Maya’s own deals page. The card takes its name from “bukadkad,” the Filipino word for a flower in full bloom, and its release marks May…

10 Crypto Stocks to Know: Exchanges, Miners, Treasury Companies and More

Here’s something that broke my brain. As of August 2026, Strategy owned about 845,050 bitcoin worth roughly $66.5 billion, while the company itself was valued at only $43.7 billion. That gap is enough to tell you almost everything about how a crypto stock behaves once you buy on…

Buying Crypto With a Credit Card: Fees, Limits and Risks Explained

For the uninitiated, buying crypto with a credit card feels like the obvious move. You punch in your card details, hit confirm, and a few minutes later you own some Bitcoin. You don’t have to wait for a bank transfer or figure out a new app. It’s that easy, which is exactly why…

MUFG Manila Upgrades to Universal Bank After 31 Years

MUFG Bank Ltd.’s Manila branch has secured a universal banking licence from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), according to Manila Bulletin. The upgrade lets the branch offer broader financial solutions to corporations and institutions, moving up from the commercial banking…

Superama Shoppers in Cotabato City Can Now Pay Cashlessly With GCash

GCash has partnered with Superama, a homegrown supermarket chain with multiple branches in Cotabato City, to make everyday essentials more accessible for local families through cashless payments. Superama customers can now pay for groceries and daily needs using GCash instead of…

OpenAI agents attacked RubyGems before Hugging Face incident, researchers say

AI agents being tested by OpenAI attacked software service RubyGems two months before they hacked open-source platform Hugging Face, researchers said, the latest revelation of cyberattacks linked to major AI developers that have spooked the public and spurred calls for tighter r…

Researchers eye AI revolution in natural disaster forecasts

LUGANO, Switzerland - A revolution in forecasting natural disasters is underway, say researchers in Switzerland who are training AI models on vast troves of NASA climate data to produce potentially-lifesaving data at lightning speed.

All of Maya’s Visa Cards Can Now Tap to Pay With Google Pay

Maya‘s Visa wallet cards are now available on Google Wallet and Google Pay, according to Manila Standard. The rollout covers both physical and virtual Maya Visa cards, meaning all of Maya’s Visa cards, credit and wallet, are now supported. This expands on Maya’s earlier Google W…

Visa Doubles Its Philippine Footprint With 9,000 Square Metre Office

Visa is more than doubling its office footprint at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, according to InsiderPH. The payments company is relocating from about 4,000 square meters at Five E-com Center to a 9,000-square-meter facility at Four E-com Center, remaining within the same busines…

BPI, BDO and Metrobank Among Eight Philippine Banks on Forbes’ Global List

Eight Philippine banks were included in Forbes’ inaugural World’s Top Performing Banks ranking for 2026. Created with market research firm Statista, the ranking takes a financial-performance approach rather than relying primarily on customer surveys. Forbes drew on financial dat…

Why Account Takeover Is Getting Harder to Stop

Financial institutions have invested heavily in securing digital onboarding and account opening journeys. Identity verification, document checks, and fraud screening have become standard practice across banking, fintech, and digital financial services. Yet despite these investme…

How to Buy Crypto With PayPal: A Step-by-Step Guide

Have a PayPal account? Well, that’s one of the most important things you need to own Bitcoin, Ethereum, or a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Since October 2020, PayPal has allowed people to buy crypto right in the app. You don’t need to download any new app, no need to create a separa…

ShopeeVIP+ Brings Netflix, Canva Pro and More to the Philippines

Shopee has launched ShopeeVIP+ as per Shopee Indonesia’s Executive Director, Handhika Jahja’s post on his LinkedIn. The deal is a subscription programme bundling Netflix access with shopping perks, marking Netflix’s first e-commerce partnership in Southeast Asia. The programme r…

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AI Will Kill Us in a Decade? Top AI Researcher Quits OpenAI, Anthropic Over Superintelligence Fears

A former pretraining researcher from OpenAI and Anthropic has resigned, warning that frontier labs are recklessly racing toward uncontrolled superintelligence.

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Tech Veteran Built an Offline AI Tutor That Runs on Budget Smartphones

Tech veteran Luis Buenaventura built Hiraia, an open-source AI science tutor that runs offline in Tagalog and Bisaya on $100 Android phones.

EXPLAINER: Why are the Sierra Madre and nature-based solutions important vs floods?

Rising up to 6,283 feet and with a length of 540 kilometers, the Sierra Madre Mountain Range serves as the backbone of Luzon Island and one of the most important land formations in the Philippines.

Oslo bans smart glasses in schools

Norway's capital Oslo said Thursday it had banned smart glasses in schools, saying the move was aimed at preventing children becoming "extras in Meta's data collection."

Doctor encounters rare blanket octopus while fishing in Misamis Oriental

While fishing in the waters off Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, a doctor came across an unusual sea creature that caught his attention because of its colorful, blanket-like appearance.

Not just iPhones: Apple also unveils new AirPods, Watches, and an AI identifier

Apple on Wednesday redefined its flagship smartphone with the launch of the Duo, a folding $1,999 iPhone at its Cupertino headquarters, but unveiled other updates as well.