Philippines – Katrina Gonzalez has announced that she has been appointed by digital finance service Coins.ph as its new global marketing director. In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Gonzalez said that for her new role, she would be generating awareness for Coins.ph on its operations and future expansions to provide more people with easy access to digital assets and innovations in the Web3 space.
Specifically, she will be prioritizing on educating users on how they can participate in the web3 ecosystem and the opportunities it creates, in a safe and secure manner.
“For web3 and crypto natives, we’ve got a lot of product launches in store to serve their rapidly evolving needs and cater to the various segments of the market spanning crypto traders, Web3 gamers, businesses, institutions, NFT collectors and more. So we want to do these justice by spreading awareness and making these accessible through education, promotions and community engagement,” Gonzalez told MARKETECH APAC.
Prior to her appointment, Gonzalez held key roles in indie Web3 game studios as the chief operating officer of Serriva Labs and the former head of operations of YGG Pilipinas for more than a year.
“With YGG, I was constantly exposed to the community of web3 gamers we served. Web3 gaming made a substantial impact on people’s lives in terms of access to earning opportunities, and their trust in YGG to help navigate this new world and provide education on cryptocurrency and financial management was top of mind. Hearing their experiences, successes, and passion to give back to help others too was an inspiration. I believe I learned more from them than they learned from me and I’m truly grateful for that,” stated Gonzalez when asked about her prior experience in the Web3 industry.
She also possesses a wide array of marketing leadership experience in banking and fintech firms, being the former chief marketing officer as well as the marketing and communications head of UnionDigital Bank and UnionBank respectively.
“At UnionBank, heading the marketing and communications team of the fintech group, this is where I saw a traditional bank evolve into one that was not only willing to innovate but also keen to work with what was then considered competitors – the fintechs. By enabling fintechs and collaborating with them to create solutions for customers, we were able to do more, for more people. At UnionDigital, I was part of the founding team that started the digital bank and learned how to build from scratch with the customer in mind – the underbanked and underserved,” she mentioned when asked about her previous roles in the field of banking.
Speaking on her own appointment, Gonzalez said, “Through all these roles, I’ve been lucky to work in organizations that pushed the boundaries of innovation to provide people with opportunities to uplift their lives – from web3 gaming to financial services. This is why I decided to join Coins.ph as we want to do the same thing in the digital asset space. I’ve learned through my prior roles, that it’s by keeping this mission in mind, day in and day out, that allows us to go beyond to serve the customer.”
When asked about the challenges and opportunities that the fintech industry will face for this year, she pointed out the emergence of fintech alternatives as something that could both be a challenge and an opportunity.
“For quite some time now, fintechs have been challengers to traditional financial services offered by banks and institutions. What we’re seeing emerge is that there are alternatives to fintechs coming from the web3 and digital asset space – from lending, savings and ways to earn – it will be interesting to see how fintechs either compete or collaborate with builders in web3. This is both a challenge and opportunity for fintechs,” she answered.
Gonzalez joins Coins.ph following its cryptocurrency partnerships with UnionBank, Globe, and the Philippine BasketBall Association.
