Blog and Updates
Crunchfish Offline Payment Solution to Enter the Philippines
AltPayNet’s CEO Don Vacal made his first Sibos appearance as a speaker for a Fireside Chat, where he highlighted the need for versatile payments service across rural communities in the Philippines.
By: Phyra Templeton
Payment Gateway
Opportunities
Is this the answer to our fragmented payment systems, and unreliable internet?
Every year, the Sibos community convenes to talk about all things finance, exploring challenging themes in fintech, and introducing new initiatives. From the biggest and most innovative banks to consultants, executives, regulators, and software providers, everyone who is anyone in the industry is there.
AltPayNet’s CEO Don Vacal made his first Sibos appearance as a speaker for a Fireside Chat, where he highlighted the need for versatile payments service across rural communities in the Philippines.
In this article, we delve into what industry leaders are saying about the current financial landscape and its challenges, while unraveling the opportunities born from them.
Sibos, organized by SWIFT, is the global financial services conference, exhibition, and networking event.
It brings together thousands of people and condenses a year’s worth of conversations into only a few days.
“Sibos drives the agenda for the transformation of the financial service industry, bringing together an expansive range of viewpoints from around the world.
Our community is central to ensuring we deliver the highest quality speakers, content and networking opportunities to facilitate collaboration and fuel innovation,” says Alan Rowan, Head of Sibos.
This year, Sibos 2025 is hosted at Messe Frankfurt, Germany from September 29 to October 2, with the theme “The next frontiers of global finance” at the forefront.
With 500+ expert speakers in attendance, dedicated meeting spaces, and the return of Sibos staples such as the SWIFT Hackathon and the Perfect Pitch competition, Sibos sets the stage for collaboratively shaping market practice, standards, and innovation.
On Day One, Crunchfish hosted a fireside chat, where AltPayNet took the Sibos Discovery Stage and opened a conversation around resilient payment systems, its necessity, and implementation.
Why focus on inclusion? Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2023 financial inclusion survey shows 49.80% of Filipino adults remained unbanked, revealing limited access to digital payments.
The Philippines faces a stark contrast in financial services: rapid digital adoption in cities juxtaposed with persistent exclusion in rural and coastal areas, especially across Mindanao and Visayas.
According to the World Bank, only 50.2% of Filipino adults aged 15 and older had financial accounts in 2024, below the average 83.3% account ownership rate for East Asia and Pacific.
Some barriers stand out, such as unstable internet connectivity and cash dependency. Tens of millions of rural residents own smartphones but still experience intermittent connectivity.
What’s more is that personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) represent 7.4% of the country’s Gross National Income (GNI), yet many families lack direct access to banks or e-wallets.
The call for reliable and inclusive financial systems has never been greater and the solution is clear: offline-capable payments should be integrated in our fintech ecosystem.
The Sibos chat featured guest speaker Don Vacal, CEO & Founder of AltPayNet; Sridhar Narayanan, CTO of IBM Payments Center; and Joachim Samuelsson, CEO of Crunchfish, who moderated the discussion.
Here they tackled the questions: Why is resilience in payments needed? And how can it be practically implemented and scaled?
“The Philippines is a uniquely challenging market for payments due to its geography and frequent natural disasters.
Our partnership with Crunchfish allows us to deliver uninterrupted digital payment solutions that keep economic activity moving even when connectivity or power is disrupted – we call it ‘last mile payments’” says Vacal.
This partnership takes shape in a joint mobile application that combines Crunchfish’s pioneering offline technology and AltPayNet’s Filipino-first digital payment solutions.
Joachim Samuelsson says, “AltPayNet is an important player in Southeast Asia’s digital payments ecosystem. Together we are rethinking how to build a resilient and inclusive payment infrastructure that works online, offline, and with cash.”
Moving forward, this creates opportunities for future innovation, particularly in supporting the Central Bank of the Philippines with its current payments digitization roadmap.
How does the app work? Initially, a user must connect to the internet and create an account. To start requesting payments, even without an internet connection, they simply scan the QR code.
Once a connection is restored, a user must tap the sync button to upload their transaction where they’ll find the payment reflected in Transaction History.
Crunchfish and AltPayNet work hand in hand to meet Filipino communities where they are. Their combined technology will impact various sectors, including:
AltPayNet’s presence at Sibos 2025 makes it clear that offline payments are essential for true financial inclusion.
By joining forces with Crunchfish, AltPayNet is proving that financial access can extend to the last mile, reaching rural communities, MSMEs, and families who need it most.
In an industry often defined by rapid change, this collaboration shows how innovation can be both practical and people-first, laying the groundwork for a future where every Filipino, whether online or offline, has the power to participate in the digital economy.
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