Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure could push remittance costs in the Philippines close to zero, arguing that families receiving money from overseas workers are losing between $5 billion and $10 billion a year in transfer fees. Speaking at the ASEAN Tech Summit in Manila on July 29 with FinTech Alliance Philippines founding chairman Lito Villanueva, Zhao said stablecoin payments on networks such as BNB Chain can process cross-border transfers at negligible cost because the business model does not depend on charging per transaction. The Philippines receives about $35 billion in annual remittances, making it the third-largest recipient globally, and traditional channels typically charge 3% to 10% per transfer. Zhao said most stablecoin transactions are "basically zero" and argued that platforms can earn revenue from trading, lending and other financial services built on top of the rails instead. He also said a peso-backed stablecoin such as the proposed PHPX, being explored by a consortium of Philippine banks, could remove the final conversion step that still makes dollar-pegged tokens like USDT and USDC less efficient for local recipients. The discussion also highlighted barriers to adoption, including weak financial literacy and the patchwork of regulations across ASEAN. Zhao backed a regulatory passport or mutual recognition of licenses across the region, saying the real challenge is political coordination rather than the technology itself. He said the Philippines is relatively advanced on digital assets compared with some neighbors, but a truly seamless regional payments corridor would require alignment on anti-money-laundering rules, licensing and currency controls. Zhao said costs will not literally fall to zero once compliance and on- and off-ramp expenses are included, but even a drop from about 5% to 0.5% would redirect billions of dollars from intermediaries to Filipino families. He also said every country should have its own local stablecoin to keep domestic economic activity anchored in its own currency as finance shifts from traditional finance to digital finance.