TAGUIG CITY, Philippines – Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) to explore making tokenized real-world assets, starting with gold, more accessible through an integrated digital customer experience.
Under the MOU, RCBC and PDAX will explore a connected customer experience that allows RCBC customers to conveniently access PDAX’s regulated digital-asset platform through RCBC’s digital channels.
Gold has long stood as one of the world’s most trusted stores of value, but owning it physically comes with real friction: storage, authenticity verification, and limited accessibility for the average investor. Tokenization is designed to address each of these barriers directly, and the partnership will explore how customers could eventually access PDAX’s tokenized gold offering through a simpler, fully digital experience.
“For many Filipinos, investment opportunities have traditionally felt complex or out of reach,” said Lito Villanueva, executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC. “Exploratory partnerships like this allow us to explore how customers can more conveniently access innovative financial services through trusted, regulated partners while keeping the banking experience simple and seamless.”
Villanueva added that the collaboration reflects a broader shift in how access to investment is built, not through new technology alone, but through trusted institutions working together to explore what’s possible.
“Gold has been one of the most prominent and longstanding trusted sources of value for generations, but there are practical limitations to owning it: storage, authenticity, and accessibility,” said Nichel Gaba, founder and CEO of PDAX. “A lot of these barriers from the traditional world are being solved today through tokenization.”
Gaba said the partnership reflects PDAX’s founding belief that world-class financial products shouldn’t be reserved for a select few. “They should be within reach of every Filipino,” he said. “We’re proud to be exploring this together with RCBC, and we’re excited about what this could mean for the future of investing in the Philippines.”
This MOU marks an exploratory collaboration between RCBC and PDAX, extending RCBC’s ongoing expansion of its digital financial ecosystem through trusted partnerships, while advancing PDAX’s mission of bringing regulated digital-asset services into platforms Filipinos already know and use. Together, the two companies will explore how trusted banking services and regulated digital-asset infrastructure can work seamlessly together to simplify customer access to emerging investment opportunities through an integrated digital experience.
As a memorandum of understanding, the current agreement covers exploratory collaboration only. Any resulting products, services, branding, customer availability, and launch timelines remain subject to further development, mutual agreement, and applicable regulatory requirements.
