Jiro Reyes, the dynamic CEO of Bitskwela, is main a transformative motion in crypto and blockchain training throughout the Philippines. Fueled by a private ardour ignited throughout his faculty years and a realization of widespread misinformation about cryptocurrencies, he based Bitskwela to make complicated blockchain ideas accessible to all Filipinos.
Over the previous years, Bitskwela has collaborated extensively with each private and non-private sector gamers, using the non-public sector for Web3 onboarding and gaining public sector help for next-generation training.
Notably, the staff’s work has been featured by CNN, Nasdaq, Esquire, and The Philippine Star, because it performs its mission to onboard 100 million Filipinos as a number one Web3 training platform within the nation.
That stated, UseTheBitcoin acquired the chance to interview Jiro Reyes, the Co-Founder and CEO of Bitskwela, in the course of the current Philippine Blockchain Week 2025 in Manila.
UTB: Are you able to inform us extra about Bitskwela?
Jiro: At Bitskwela, we do crypto and blockchain training all throughout the Philippines, from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Principally, we work along with establishments, completely different enterprises, Native Authorities Items (LGUs), and universities, all in accordance with bringing training to the lots throughout the nation.
UTB: Bitskwela stands out for providing crypto training in a number of Filipino languages like Tagalog, Cebuano, and Ilocano, with plans to broaden to others. What impressed this multilingual strategy, and the way has it influenced adoption charges or engagement in areas the place English is just not the first language?
Jiro: To inform you the context of that, my dad works for the tourism board for some completely different LGUs. So, we go across the nation rather a lot as a household, and from that have alone, I spotted that not all Filipinos are as well-versed in English as we’re, and lots of people in provinces desire to speak of their mom tongue. In that sense, I considered the mission of democratizing any monetary subject, together with crypto and Bitcoin. That’s the reason we’d like completely different languages, not simply English.
After I began, I made my first Bitcoin Tagalog course throughout my faculty years, round 4 to 5 years in the past. And from there, we acquired nice suggestions. By way of adoption, we had been in a position to assist folks from different provinces and different walks of life perceive Bitcoin on a basic degree.
I’ve personally gotten a number of DMs on-line, saying they had been in a position to perceive Bitcoin and blockchain. And once more, we don’t cost a single cent for our programs. So, in that sense, I consider we had been in a position to create an impression on a grassroots degree in relation to blockchain adoption nationwide.
UTB: How do you guarantee the standard and cultural relevance of your instructional content material when translating complicated blockchain ideas into native dialects?
Jiro: One is that we have now a various staff of high quality checkers and content material creators, to have a really lengthy means of content material checking earlier than it’s pushed out. Truly, with me is my COO, Vince, is one in all our head researchers at Bitskwela, serving to us when it comes to ensuring the content material is right and factual.
After all, on the opposite finish, we go across the Philippines rather a lot, so we be sure that our content material is all the time knowledgeable by the experiences we acquire on the bottom, and that it displays the cultural and related facets of the Philippine market.
UTB: How does Bitskwela plan to place the Philippines as a frontrunner in Southeast Asia’s blockchain ecosystem, and what classes and experiences are you making use of?
Jiro: By way of plans, I might say it’s a two-front. First, there may be assist to maintain momentum in relation to retail adoption. As we all know, the Philippines is at present ranked eighth when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption. We have now very excessive volumes general, so with our training initiatives, together with conferences and front-facing mass market training, we have now a number of issues happening to assist hold this alive in numerous provinces.
On our new aspect, we’re additionally serving to the developer ecosystems within the Philippines. We have now a number of IT expertise proper now, and in response to knowledge, we roughly have 190,000 builders within the Philippine market, however a number of these builders don’t code on the blockchain. Subsequently, there’s a enormous alternative value being misplaced in relation to IT growth within the Philippines.
So, in case you take a look at, for instance, Singapore, India, and Vietnam, they’ve populations which can be very adept in relation to growth, and you may see that they’re actually maximizing their possibilities within the blockchain house.
In order that’s my imaginative and prescient: to activate this 190,000 inhabitants onto the developer ecosystem of Web3. And the way are we doing that? Primary is that we’re internet hosting quite a few boot camps and code camps throughout the nation. So once more, in partnership with universities and LGUs, we have now our offline workshops on instructing methods to code sensible contracts on the blockchain.
Second to that, we’re additionally launching the Philippines’ first developer software program, instructing Solidity, Rust, Transfer, and JavaScript, in numerous universities throughout the Philippines.
So, it isn’t only a workshop or a bootcamp, however an precise integration into the curricula of the schools within the Philippines proper now.
UTB: You have got shared that your private journey into crypto started with a “Bitcoin rabbit gap.” What was the defining second that led you to discovered Bitskwela, and the way does that keenness drive your management at present?
Jiro: I suppose the principle driver could be the suggestions I acquired from my household in a not-so-good approach, as a result of for context, I used to be at a Christmas dinner, and I used to be speaking about Bitcoin and crypto in the course of the 12 months of 2020. The primary response from my aunties and uncles is that it’s a rip-off. That made me notice that as a substitute of being discouraged by that, I used to be impressed by the actual fact that there’s a important drawback of misinformation surrounding Bitcoin and crypto within the Philippines. And in my household, there’s a number of pushback as properly. So, with that in thoughts, it pushed me additional to broaden its course operations and go for the mission to broaden the training within the Philippines.
UTB: As a younger CEO, how do you steadiness the pressures of main a startup in a unstable trade together with your dedication to educating a nation?
Jiro: Truthfully, I don’t know as properly [laughs]. However to be sincere, I simply cope with it day-after-day. There’s no clear-cut option to remedy how to do that form of work on this degree, and dealing once more, such as you stated, on this very, very, unstable market.
I knew crypto was unstable, however managing an training enterprise in crypto is much more unstable. So, I suppose the way in which I deal with it’s simply actually to train and every day meditation. Each time I get up, I spend not less than thirty minutes reflecting on my previous efficiency and future performances as properly. And likewise, correct consuming habits are crucial, as a result of I’ve discovered that what you eat is, in fact, who you’re, and if I proceed consuming junk meals, that’s dangerous for my physique, and I don’t wish to mirror that on my efficiency.
UTB: Is there something you wish to share that I’ve not requested, however is vital to cowl on this interview?
Jiro: One factor to cowl is rules within the Philippines. I’m undecided in case you’re conscious, however the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) lately launched new pointers for crypto entrepreneurs.
They known as it the CASP (Crypto Asset Service Supplier) guidelines, so this was already put into movement and will probably be in impact as early as subsequent month.
Now, this one is form of regarding in its personal approach as a result of it’s an overreach in my private opinion, when it comes to regulating crypto gamers within the Philippines. I gained’t go into deeper particulars as a result of it’s very lengthy, however simply an open name to the viewers to try it and voice out your opinion. And, you already know, simply work round it in a way as a result of it’s very questionable to an extent in some regards. However once more, for a extra prolonged interview on that as properly.
For additional data on Bitskwela and to remain up to date on their bulletins, please go to their official social media channels offered beneath:
👉 Web site: https://www.bitskwela.com/
👉 Bitskwela’s Fb: https://www.fb.com/bitskwela/
👉 Bitskwela’s Twitter/X: https://x.com/bitskwela
👉 Bitskwela’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitskwela/
👉 Jiro Reyes’ Fb: https://www.fb.com/jiroreyess/
👉 Jiro Reyes’ Twitter/X: https://x.com/jirols_btc
👉 Jiro Reyes’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jiroreyess/