Cebuana Lhuillier leads the next era of cross-border payments, unlocking stablecoin rails with fireblocks

Cebuana Lhuillier, one of the Philippines’ largest and most trusted money transfer and payments services providers, recently entered a strategic collaboration with Fireblocks, the enterprise platform securing more than $6 trillion in digital asset transfers annually. Together, the two companies are building a next-generation payments platform leveraging blockchain technology to deliver faster, efficient, and more accessible financial services.

Cebuana Lhuillier serves millions of customers through a network of over 3,500 branches nationwide — one of the most extensive financial service footprints in the country. For many Filipinos, particularly those in underserved communities, Cebuana Lhuillier branches are the primary point of access for money transfers and payments which firmly positions the company as the Philippine’s Financial gateway in the cross-border and payments space. However, across the broader financial industry, the infrastructure underpinning these transfers has changed little over the decades. Transactions remain slow, expensive, and constrained by legacy settlement rails that were not built for a digital-first economy.

The pressure to modernise has never been greater. According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), digital payments accounted for 57.4% of retail payment volume in 2024 up from around 1% in 2013 reflecting a rapid structural shift toward digital financial channels in the Philippines. The BSP’s latest data also shows that digital payments reached 59% of total transaction value, underscoring broad-based adoption across the economy. With the central bank targeting 60–70% digitalization of retail payments by 2028, the Philippines continues to move decisively toward a more cash-lite economy, signaling a sustained transformation in consumer behavior that incumbent networks must keep pace with to remain relevant.

Cebuana Lhuillier selected Fireblocks as its infrastructure provider to address this challenge, building a stablecoin-powered payment rail capable of near-instant settlements at a fraction of the cost of traditional infrastructure. The platform leverages the Fireblocks’ Network for Payments, wallet technology, reconciliation tools, and deep blockchain network connectivity to deliver secure, compliant, and programmable payment flows across Cebuana Lhuillier’s ecosystem. Fireblocks enable Cebuana and its global partners to fund one another directly – accelerating liquidity across the entire remittance network.

“Our customers are not waiting for the future – they are already living in it,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, President and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier. “They send money on their phones; they expect it to arrive instantly. Collaborating with Fireblocks gives us the infrastructure to deliver on that expectation at scale – across every branch, every corridor, and every family we serve. This is about making sure that modernisation reaches everyone, not just those with access to the latest fintech apps.”

Meanwhile, for Ran Goldi, SVP of Payments and Network at Fireblocks, “Cebuana Lhuillier is one of the most deeply embedded financial institutions in the Philippines, touching communities that larger banks simply do not reach,” he said. “This collaboration brings institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure to one of the world’s most dynamic remittance corridors and empowers Cebuana Lhuillier to set a new standard for how money moves across borders.”

The solution is designed to meet customers where they are: maintaining the trusted branch network that communities rely on, while dramatically upgrading the rails beneath it. By replacing slow, expensive settlement processes with programmable stable coin flows, Cebuana Lhuillier can offer faster access to funds, lower bulk-transfer costs, and a foundation to expand into new digital financial services over time.

This initiative is further supported by Solana, a blockchain platform recognized for its speed, scalability, and cost-efficient transaction architecture. This reflects the growing ecosystem confidence in Cebuana Lhuillier’s strategy and supports the continued exploration of scalable blockchain-enabled payment solutions.

Through this collaboration, Cebuana Lhuillier reinforces its commitment to building a more inclusive and future-ready financial ecosystem — one that combines the trust of its nationwide physical network with the speed, efficiency, and innovation of blockchain technology. As digital adoption continues to accelerate across the Philippines, the company remains focused on delivering financial solutions that are faster, more accessible, and responsive to the evolving needs of Filipinos everywhere.

ADVT.

This article is brought to you by Cebuana Lhuillier.