Ex-Binance CFO has big plans for Coins.ph, Gojek’s ‘underloved,’ ‘orphaned’ business

When Wei Zhou left his position as chief financial officer of Binance in May 2021, he was looking for a change of pace.

He didn’t say this in so many words when Tech in Asia spoke to him. He certainly didn’t say that the world’s largest crypto exchange is a lighting rod for unwanted attention on an international scale. (It is.) Or that he might have been sick of working in the often volatile world of crypto. (He likely isn’t).

Wei Zhou, the new CEO of Coins.ph, plans to bring crypto back into the spotlight at the company. / Photo credit: Coins.ph

Instead, he was looking for a regional company, one that he could build up and call his own – preferably in a regulated industry. Coins.ph fit the bill.

“I think it’s one of those businesses that has been … I would say, underloved, kind of orphaned in a way within a large conglomerate like Gojek, whose main business is not crypto,” he says.

But someone’s overlooked business can be another’s awaited opportunity. Zhou saw Coins.ph as his chance to acquire the company that suited his needs and to “build it up to be like a national champion for the Philippines.”

Taking over such a company may not be most people’s idea of a quiet pace of life, but compared to working at Binance (and Grindr, the dating app for LGBTQ people that Zhou was vice-chairman of from 2017 to 2018), being at the helm of an e-wallet company with licenses issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) – the Philippines’ central bank – seems downright sleepy.

Founded in 2014, Coins.ph was originally a crypto wallet and trading platform. In 2019, it was purchased by Indonesia-based super app Gojek in a deal worth an estimated US$95 million.

Under Gojek’s management, Coins.ph focused on digital payment services, including mobile top-ups, bill payments, and remittances. The crypto side of the business, while still active, ceased to dominate. The platform claims to have over 10 million users in the Philippines.

Zhou led the consortium with Joffre Capital, a technology buyout fund with offices in Los Angeles and Singapore, and purchased the company from Gojek for US$200 million in April. He was named Coins.ph’s CEO after the buyout.

He will also be the CEO of a holding company that operates a Thai crypto exchange named Coins.co.th – an extension of Coins.ph. While this indicates his regional ambitions, his focus for now is the Philippines.

Back in the spotlight

Zhou has made no secret of his plans to take crypto back at the front and center of Coins.ph. The company even raised US$30 million in series C funding in May to cover the cost of its expansion into Web3.

“We would like to become the gateway for Web3 access within the Philippines,” he says.

APIs for retailers

A bridge to crypto and the Metaverse

A Coin.ph coin

Winter is coming … with regulations

Changing the ethos of crypto?