Indonesia’s tech firm GoTo Group it had sold its majority stake in Filipino e-wallet Coins.ph, Reuters reported on Monday.

The deal could also signal the end of its effort to capture the Philippines market, according to the report.

Ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek, which merged with e-commerce firm Tokopedia to form GoTo last year, had acquired the stake in 2019 as it planned a full expansion into the Philippines. The plan was halted in the same year after regulators did not grant it a ride-hailing license, according to the report.

“Our focus on international operations remains in place,” a GoTo spokesperson was quoted as saying.”We are committed to our core market in Indonesia as well as to our deepening investments in Vietnam and Singapore.”

GoTo has yet to respond to TechNode Global’s query at press time.

GoTo announced last week its plan to raise $1.1 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) in Jakarta. The IPO would make it the third-largest IPO in Asia and the fifth largest in the world this year.

The Philippines has a young, digitally-savvy population of 110 million. The market has seen increased investments from regional tech firms, including Grab and Sea Ltd, the report added.

Founded in 2014 in the Philippines and serving over 10 million customers, Coins.ph said it is one of the first blockchain-backed platforms to reach significant mainstream consumer adoption. The company’s mobile app provides banking and digital payment services, including local and international remittances, mobile air-time, bill payments, game credits, and online shopping.

The company has also built one of the country’s largest cash distribution networks, operating through over 33,000 partner locations domestically and over 500,000 locations worldwide.

Coins.ph is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and is the first-ever blockchain-based company in Asia to hold both Virtual Currency and Electronic Money Issuer licenses from a central bank, according to its website.

Featured image credits: coins.ph

Indonesia’s GoTo allocates over $20M to driver-partners under share program