From Michael Mislos, Editor-in-Chief of BitPinas. This is a portion of the newsletter we send to subscribers. Please subscribe using the link above.

The BitPinas team was sitting on the news about Axie Infinity and Globe for months now. The previous article on a mainstream publication only mentioned the Axie Infinity x Globe connection in passing, as if it wasn’t as important as everything else that was announced. We wanted to write the article because we want the community to know that such a thing is happening. It’s a done deal. We’re just waiting for more information.

We start the week by learning about two firms: Paytaca and Tetrix. Paytaca is based in Tacloban, and they recently received ₱7.5 million in equity-free pre-seed funds through a decentralized crowdfunding platform. Paytaca is a non-custodial wallet but the developers are designing it to contain other services like food delivery and bills payments. Paytaca said it plans to secure a virtual asset service providers license but in the meantime, they plan to partner with a licensed entity to issue a PHP stablecoin. 

Tetrix, on the other hand, has created “Pitaka” which is, as you probably have guessed already, a wallet. So calling it “Pitaka Wallet” might sound redundant?  Felix from their team did say they are targeting a global audience, so that means the non-Filipinos will not get the redundancy, just like non-Japanese on the “Bread Pan” snack. They said they wouldn’t need a VASP license because they are non-custodial. It sparked some debate in the BitPinas Facebook page, and I appreciate the Tetrix team answering the questions from our readers.

In the last two weeks, BitPinas readers are concerned about the proposed crypto tax by the outgoing Finance department to the incoming Marcos administration. Last week, incoming DOF Secretary Benjamin Diokno (who is currently the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor) said he is more into prioritizing the implementation of the present tax structure rather than doing another series of tax reforms. 

Speaking of taxes, I got invited to the launch of Tax Expert Mon Abrea’s new book and updated app. When asked about tax on cryptocurrencies, he somewhat echoed Diokno’s statement on implementation first before reform. “Unless until there is a mechanism [for crypto tax collection] they can just talk about it but it can never be collected,” he said.

Speaking of invites, we also got invited to another media conference by Maya (formerly PayMaya) where they talked about (among other things) the launch of new cryptocurrencies on their app. 

One of the core concerns right now is the bear market. Gemini Exchange and many other companies are laying off. Miguel Cuneta, the cofounder of BSP-licensed Rebittance Inc said crypto will thrive amid the bear market, having experienced multiple bear markets himself. Meanwhile NAS DAILY said the current situation is a great test of conviction. “I’m taking a bet that Bitcoin is a once in a generation thing,” he added. 

Finally, some more funding news. Playdex from the founders of PayMongo and Coins.ph is launching an NFT rental marketplace after it raised $2 million from the likes of PDAX, among others. Certainly, stellar names, with Luis Sia of PayMongo as its Business Development Lead and Its CEO and Product Lead are Daniel Laborada and Bernadette Misa, respectively. A curious event: I first met them in a Yield Guild Games dinner some six months ago. Dan was explaining to us how he was managing his Axie Infinity scholarship that involves some complicated tech that I was able to follow at that time, and forgot later (haha sorry!). Berna was talking about being part of YGG and concerns about staying undoxx (private) in an increasingly public community. Our report about Playdex can be found here, but I’m very happy for Dan and Misia for this. 

This article is published on BitPinas: Newsletter: Various CryptoPH Companies Receive Funding | June 6, 2022