‘BREAKOUT’: Stage is set for the annual Philippine Blockchain Week

The Philippine Blockchain Week (PBW) returns this September, with the country’s Blockchain Council promising a bigger event filled with learnings and activities that will surely trigger a chain reaction supporting the nation’s blockchain bid.

In July, the Blockchain Council of the Philippines held a press conference at The Hub of Marriott Hotel, where they laid out plans for the PBW set to take place on September 19-21 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.

The upcoming event will be even more exciting and meaningful as the Council found support from state-backed agencies.

“Just to give you the best experience for this year, we have partnered with DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) in terms of the creatives and the hackathons and the blockchain 101’s. We also partnered with Michael Cinco, we will be having a metaverse fashion gala,” Chezka Gonzales, co-founder of PBW and Vice President (Internal) of the Blockchain Council of the Philippines, told CoinGeek.

Apart from discussions on emerging technologies, the PBW will spotlight the gaming sector this year, giving voice to gamers and streamers who have been a critical element in the Philippines’ blockchain adoption.

Director of the ICT Industry Development Bureau under DICT, Emmy Lou-Delfin, said the agency’s partnership with the Blockchain Council of the Philippines is geared toward ensuring the growth and development of the ICT sector and providing employment opportunities to Filipinos.

“We are implementing a program called SetPH stimulating the growth of emerging technologies in the Philippines. That’s where all the different initiative in blockchain are being implemented,” shared Delfin.

The DTI also teamed up with the Council to spur the country’s blockchain adoption through education, with agency Director III Jo-Dann Darong bearing the latest government strategy to help realize this ambition.

“The recent addition to that priority sector is the creative industry, so in terms of adoption of blockchain, we can reposition the question to the creative industry, where the adoption is more likely visible and easy to propose or move as an agenda,” Darong said, explaining the goal behind DICT’s Science Technology Innovation based industrialization strategy.

Joining government agencies are leaders in the finance sector, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which are pushing for the mass adoption of blockchain with the belief that the technology would pave the way for a better transaction system in the country.

“The thing about our finance sector, the SEC, BSP, even the insurance commission, our regulators are embracing technology, and in fact, there is a high appreciation when it comes to blockchain technology is concerned,” said Ida Tiongson, Co-convenor of the Blockchain Council of the Philippines.

For the lead convenor of the PBW, Donald Lim, last year’s event focused on generating awareness about blockchain and other emerging technologies and their impacts—the upcoming program in September is all about getting plans to fruition.

Watch: Blockchain will fuel the next generation