Philippine Block Awards honored country’s top blockchain innovators

Manila, Philippines — Philippine Blockchain Week is proud to present the honorees of the first ever Philippine Block Awards which included leaders in financial, technology, and business industries for supporting and promoting the adoption of blockchain in the country.

The Philippine Block Awards was the closing ceremony of the highly successful inaugural Philippine Blockchain Week which featured thought leaders innovators in blockchain, crypto, web3, NFTs and gaming from around the world.

Leader of the Year and Leader of the Future

UnionBank of the Philippines Chairman Justo A. Ortiz received the Leader of the Year Award. Dr. Ortiz is the chair of the Fintech Association of the Philippines, Blockchain Association of the Philippines, and Philippine Payments Management, Inc. He is also a board member of the Global Fintech Alliance founded in Denmark.

Rien Lewis Pecson, the eighth grader who created the world’s first blockchain-based voting platform, iVote.ph, was awarded the Blockchain Leader of the Future. Pecson was only 12 years old when he developed the platform along with artist Neil Fernandez, Jr., who created its NFT art.

“Dr. Ortiz has helped pave the way for the financial industry to adopt Web3 technology. He heads many of the country’s blockchain groups. Rien, meanwhile, has shown us that young people can make a change in the world through blockchain. We hope that Filipinos will be inspired by their work and start learning more about the technology,” Lim said.

Blockchain Champions

Declared Philippine Block Champions were Atty. Mark S. Gorriceta, Managing Partner and Head of the Technology Media and Telecommunications Group of Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra; Ann J. Cuisia, CEO of Traxion Tech; Atty. Kelvin Lester K. Lee, Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Imelda C. Tiongson, President and Execom Member of Opal Portfolio Investments, Inc., independent director of PruLife UK, and a trustee of both the Fintech Alliance Ph and Fintech Association of the Philippines; Henry Rhoel R. Aguda, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology & Ops Officer of UnionBank of the Philippines; Luis Buenaventura II, Country Manager of Yield Guild Games; Gail Concepcion Cruz-Macapagal, Country Director of DynaQuest Technology Services, Inc.; Nichel O. Gaba, CEO of Philippine Digital Asset Exchange; Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games; and Miguel Cuneta, founder of Bitmark.ph and co-founder and chief community officer of Satoshi Citadel Industries.

“These are the men and women who have advanced the use of blockchain and Web3 technologies in the Philippines. They are also the ones leading the way for its adoption and pushing for the Philippines to be the blockchain hub in Asia,” said Dr. Donald Lim, lead convenor of the Philippine Blockchain Week.

Lim said that the success of the inaugural Philippine Blockchain Week is an indication that Filipinos welcome blockchain adoption and that the world recognizes its potential.

“With the government’s help, we know that we can make the Philippines the blockchain hub in the region,” he said.

The Philippine Blockchain Week is powered by the following major sponsors 1inch, Tetrix, NChain, GCash, Coins.ph, DVCode, Ark of Dream, iPay88, and Maya.