Driving efforts to enable digital asset payments in the Philippines. Photo shows (from left to right): Chris Manguera, Head of New Business and Customer Lifetime Value at Maya; Mitch Padua, Chief Product Officer at Maya; Shailesh Baidwan, Group President at Maya and Co-Founder of Maya Bank; Carl Grimstad, CEO at Lydian; Nikolas Huth, Head of Growth at Lydian; and Alvin Wong, Head of Business Development for Emerging Business at Maya.
Maya and Lydian are collaborating to enable the use of digital assets in everyday commerce in the Philippines. Through Lydian’s digital asset acceptance infrastructure, businesses using Maya Business will be able to accept digital asset payments while receiving prompt settlement in Philippine pesos, removing exposure to price volatility.
For consumers, digital asset payments will be integrated into familiar flows such as QR codes, payment links and online checkout, including a “Pay with Crypto” option.
The initiative is designed to address key friction points that have limited merchant adoption, including volatility, custody requirements and regulatory complexity, by enabling stablecoin-based payments within a structured framework.
Maya will provide the regulated infrastructure layer for the collaboration, leveraging its merchant network and technology platform used by businesses nationwide, while supporting wallet screening, Travel Rule compliance and BSP-aligned reporting requirements.
With crypto ownership in the Philippines among the highest in Asia and stablecoin usage continuing to grow across the region, the collaboration reflects ongoing efforts to bridge digital assets with mainstream payment systems.
Lydian is a digital asset payment infrastructure that enables merchants and payment providers to accept stablecoins and other digital assets at the point of sale. Backed by Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald, Lydian offers same-day settlement in local currencies, removes volatility and compliance risks, and turns digital assets into real-world spending power.