A Convenient App for Those in the ASEAN Region
Introducing (again) XLD Finance and xSpend
I came across a Twitter account a year ago of a Philippine-based Web 3.0 fintech startup catering to ASEAN residents. The services they offered were of great interest to me, and since they were from my country they automatically got a follow. Their name is XLD Finance, and their services are offered through their fintech app, xSpend.
Sharing It Again for Greater Reach
When I began writing this blog a couple of days ago, I paused for a while and did a search here to see if anyone had already blogged about this Web 3.0 startup. It turns out that someone had two weeks ago.
Rather than give up and start writing about the next crypto topic on my list, I decided to press on. I felt that the previous one didn't cover the subject thoroughly enough.
So I am writing about it again for the benefit of my target audience, my fellow Filipinos. I want to make sure that they all become aware about it, and also share my firsthand experiences with it.
What You Can Do with xSpend
Below are just some examples of their services that you can use now.
Their services are avaible for the following ASEAN countries, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam.
xSpend supports Ethereum, Polygon, Binance, Ronin, and Solana blockchains. Supported wallets are Metamask, Ronin, and Phantom.
Buy Prepaid Mobile Credit
This service is available for all six ASEAN countries, and is the first one I have tried among their offerings. I must say I am quite satisfied, and in spite of the risks of using a beta feature, you can bet that I will be using this more, than buying mobile credits with my fiat.
Pay Utility Bills
Bill payments is limited to just three ASEAN countries for now, and I’m glad my country is one of them. I have not tried this yet but will in the future.
Too bad my country's main electric power provider is not included in the list of electric power companies. I hope they add it in the future.
But my water provider is listed, and all telcos, cable, and Internet companies are supported as well.
Pay for Online Shopping, Schools, Airlines, and Others
Online shopping can be found in the E-commerce & Super Apps category. And for the Philippines, only Shopee and Agoda - DragonPay are available for now. Other categories also offered are Airlines, Education, Loans, and many others as you can see in the picture.
Crypto Off-ramp
Now, you're probably wondering how to off-ramp to fiat? You'll be able to do that with their xMoney service, which unfortunately isn't live yet.
But, if you need to offramp to fiat through them right now, there is a workaround for that.
If you have a verified ShopeePay wallet, you can swap your crypto to e-cash in ShopeePay, and transfer it to your GCash, or whatever e-wallet you use.
Read this Medium article on how to do it.
Sharing My Firsthand Experiences Using It
xSpend to the Rescue!
I had an emergency of sorts a month ago. A disagreement with my brother caused him to cut off my Internet access, leaving me unable to access my money stored in an electronic wallet, and a bank account which I had just opened but didn't have my ATM yet. Some freelance 3D graphics gigs were coming up, so I needed to get back online asap. I was also on a new LP at Meshswap, and needed to harvest my yield so I could stick it back into the pool.
I didn't have any cash left at the time since I had already spent it on food and other things. And like many Filipinos nowadays, I've become more dependent on electronic cash using any of the various popular electronic mobile wallets - e-wallets for short - such as the very popular GCash, Maya, and Coins.ph.
Luckily, my phone still had 100 pesos worth of prepaid mobile credit, and with it, I subscribed to a data package worth 50 pesos (or about 90 cents for you US folks). I got 2 gigabytes of data which was good for three days. It was more than enough for my mission to access my e-wallet, bank account, and my crypto.
I had a feeling this "war" between me and my brother was going to drag on for some time, so I had to get some ammunition for it. After regaining the ability to access the Internet, I tried to log in into my e-wallet. But a connection problem prevented me from doing so, even after many attempts. Then I remembered that startup company I saw in Twitter and immediately looked for them in my follow list to get the link to their website.
Upon reaching the site I launched their app and connected my Metamask. Among their offerings is the service that lets you buy prepaid mobile credit with stablecoins. The UI had “beta” labeled on it, but what the heck, I was on the verge of desperation and was more than willing to take the risks. So, I bought a total of 5 USDC worth of mobile credits over a period of three days. I felt that that amount was more than enough for my emergency needs, and I'll just buy some more before it gets used up. Prepaid data here in the Philippines is dirt cheap, and I earn a few dollars' worth of yield daily in an LP anyway.
Having done that I thought to myself that as long as I have access to my crypto I'll never go offline anymore. My brother doesn't need to reconnect me to our fiber subscription as I'll be using my crypto from now on to pay for my own Internet access, thanks to cheap prepaid data. And with this newfound capability, I have won our little "battle". My goal now is to win the "war".
Conclusion
I must say that I am quite pleased with my initial experiences. And I can't wait for their xMoney off-ramping solution to go live. I'm sure it is going to require KYC and I hope that my old IDs would still be accepted.
As someone who wants to use his crypto, having such convenient ways to spend them as is, or even to off-ramp them when needed, is always a welcome addition to my growing list of such fintech service providers.
With even my favorite e-wallet, GCash soon getting into crypto on/off-ramping services, it certainly is nice to have alternatives or backup solutions, in case the others go offline for maintenance.
So, this concludes this blog. If you are a Filipino or a foreigner living in this country who wants to use your crypto as is, xSpend is definitely something you should have in your crypto toolkit. Please share this with your friends.
And to Hive members in other countries not yet serviced, don't worry, as XLD Finance has plans to expand to other regions soon.