Impero Group’s Emmanuel Samson talks to CoinGeek Backstage about making Bataan the Philippines’ blockchain hub
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The Philippines is emerging as a global leader in blockchain adoption. Within the Southeast Asian country, the province of Bataan is quickly establishing itself as a digital and blockchain hub and is poised to lead the Philippines in blockchain-powered digitization, according to Emmanuel Samson of the Impero Group.
As a Special Economic Zone, Bataan has been moving towards digitizing its economy in recent years. Speaking to CoinGeek Backstage, Samson noted that this shift is led by the region’s leadership who have been very open to learning about new technologies and partnering with the private sector to grow these technologies.
Bataan’s leadership welcomes new companies and tells them: “we want to work with you. We don’t know everything, but when you join our community, we can build around it,” Samson told CoinGeek’s Claire Celdran on the sidelines of the Global Blockchain Summit in the town of Balanga.
While welcoming to startups, Bataan is keen to enforce existing regulations. The Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) insists on compliance and performs due diligence before issuing licenses to any company in blockchain and beyond.
“With AFAB, they have all these systems in place already,” Samson noted.
Samson is the CEO and co-founder of Impero Group, a blockchain company based in the Philippines. The company has already partnered with AFAB on an offshore blockchain fintech solution unit. The entity aims to build a blockchain community, first in Bataan, but in due course, at the national level.
“It’s really about mass adoption and how to make money from it [blockchain]so it is a win-win for the government, the operators and the entire ecosystem,” he said.
Samson lauded Bataan Governor Jose Enrique Garcia, who has rejuvenated the region’s push for technology adoption since he took office in late June this year. He wants “to elevate the digital economy,” says Samson. Any innovative companies in the region can continue to build solutions while the authorities take care of regulations, police the industry for bad actors and licensing.
See: Philippines Leads Blockchain Adoption – Here’s How
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