Filipino-led blockchain and digital asset platform, Satoshi Citadel Industries (SCI) Ventures Inc., and Kakao Investment, virtual currency arm of Kakao Talk, Korea's largest messaging app, announced an investment from P.J. Lhuillier, Inc. (PJLI), parent company of  Cebuana Lhuillier, the largest non-bank financial services provider in the Philippines with 2,500 branches nationwide. The company has invested an undisclosed amount to acquire a stake in the local fintech firm as part of its bid to enter the digital financial services market.

Luis “Chavit” Singson’s LCS Group of Companies (LCS) will launch its own virtual currency called GCC, or Gold Chavit Coin, in early 2019 as the group makes its foray into the financial technology (fintech) industry.