Prolific investment firm Naspers is making a push into bitcoin and financial services after it backed Philippines-based startup Coins.ph to the tune of $5 million.Coins is focused on offering financial services for the unbanked in the Philippines and Thailand.It uses the blockchain as its underlying technology to facilitate transfers and remittances.It announced the new funding — which comes via the Naspers Ventures division — as an extension to the $5 million Series A round that it closed last October.Naspers, meanwhile, needs little introduction: the South Africa-based firm specializes in e-commerce and consumer businesses in emerging markets across the world. in the Middle East among many others.Its primary presence in Southeast Asia is via global e-commerce firm OLX, but it did put money into Singapore-based bitcoin startup BitX in 2015.“Coins has done an excellent job of providing consumers with easy, cost-effective access to core financial services,” James Caviness, VP and CPO of Naspers’ PayU business, said in a statement.

“We expect Coins to continue to grow and expand across Southeast Asia.” As part of the investment, Caviness has joined the Coins board.Expansion is exactly the plan, according Justin Leow, head of business operations for Coins.Leow told TechCrunch in an interview that the company is now looking to bring its services to new markets, although he declined to get specific on future destinations.“The issues we are solving in the Philippines are quite prevalent in the rest of the [Southeast Asian] region,” he said.“Existing financial systems exclude people who don’t meet the income requirements.That issue is why we’ve had such a large unbanked population.” The banking gulf is indeed huge.Southeast Asia as a region houses more than 600 million consumers.Its internet economy is forecast to reach $200 billion per year within the next decade but financial systems are a key requirement to make that happen.Currently, just 27 percent of the region’s population has a bank account, according to a KPMG report published last year, and that’s where Coins is looking to make an impact.

The startup currently offers a range of services that include credit, basic banking, bill payments, top-up and remittance payments, none of which require a user to have a bank account.Rather than offering services directly, it works with partners to serve users.“We are really trying to build an ecosystem of services,” he explained, adding that companies like SoftBank-backed Paytm in India are an inspiration.“The goal is a wallet where people store money and can do everything with it.” Coins claims to have more than one million registered users and support from over 100,000 merchants.Featured Image: fsecart/Flickr UNDER A CC BY 2.0 LICENSEOn the edge of a tiny Chinese town is a strange building where you can get an insight into the future – and only a handful of people know what is happening inside.I am on my way to visit one of the biggest bitcoin mines in the world: where up to $8m in digital currency is generated per year by solving complicated mathematical algorithms with computers.The location is secret and I have been invited under the strict condition that I live onsite with the miners.

The owners don’t want to broadcast their specific location, because while the Chinese government is neither officially pro or against bitcoin, the huge amount of money flowing from these mines is outside state control.The town itself is so high up in the mountains that you have to bring your own cans of oxygen The town itself is so high up in the mountains that you have to bring your own cans of oxygen.bill gates bitcoin quoteMobile phone signals frequently disappear around the mountains and valleys that surround the township.bitcoin china capital flightBut high speed wi-fi makes video calls and chat apps the main mode of communication.dao bitcoin mien phiView image of (Credit: Danny Vincent) My guide is 30-year-old Chandler Guo, the co-founder of Bitbank, and a bitcoin entrepreneur.bitcoin wert 2015

Guo is the very definition of Chinese new money.His family ran a beef farm, became rich and he decided to invest in bitcoin.He has transformed this sleepy town into a hidden bitcoin economy.“In the past China manufactured simple things like clothes, shoes and things like that.bitcoin mining difficulty 2015But in the future we will use technology to make products,” says Guo.In the film below, Guo showed me inside the mine he has built:Within the mine’s walls stand hundreds of computers shelved on rows.vtc to bitcoinA team of workers live onsite: predominantly male, and made up of former farmers and fresh graduates.They live around six to a room in dormitories.bitcoin index seeks clear value pictureComputer parts are sprawled across their floors and Chinese boy band posters are stuck on walls above their bunk beds.One of them, Fang Yong, is a 21-year-old graduate who has been working as a miner for around a year.bitcoin uk capital gains tax

He rides a moped around town and, despite his rural background, dresses as a young Chinese urbanite.He’s fully aware of bitcoin’s potential.“Everyone says this technology is going to have a huge influence on the whole world,” he says.The miners are rewarded with bitcoins for solving cryptographic problems that verify other bitcoin transactions across the world.litecoin mining costEach time an algorithm is solved, “blocks” are added to the “blockchain” – a type of virtual book-keeping that ensures that every transaction is authenticated.View image of Miners live on site in apartments, and eat together (Credit: Danny Vincent) All day we mine 50 bitcoins… 24 hours this machine never sleeps – Chandler Guo Based on the current exchange rate, one bitcoin is worth approximately $450.“All day we mine 50 bitcoins,” says Guo.“24 hours this machine never sleeps.”Guo started his operation only two years ago, and mines like his have boomed ever since.

“Two years ago Chinese mining was just 40% of all the mining equipment in the world,” he says.“Right now it’s already 70%.So Chinese mining is very important.”Guo has built two fully functioning mines in China and is building what he claims will be the largest bitcoin mine in the world – capable, once complete, of producing more than 30% of all bitcoin globally.Guo is also developing an app which can mine the digital currency from a smartphone or tablet.He believes that China is likely to become the centre of the digital currency’s universe.View image of (Credit: Danny Vincent) But there is competition.Much of the Chinese population is already using online currency such as Alipay or the WeChat wallet.The Chinese government has also recently announced its interest in developing an official digital currency.Some think that organised Chinese bitcoin mining could damage the currency’s future There is also the possibility that organised Chinese bitcoin mining like Guo’s could threaten the future of the currency.

At least that’s the view of a prominent bitcoin enthusiast, Mike Hearn, who in January claimed that “the experiment had failed”.He argued that China’s dominance of mining means that the majority of bitcoin transactions are verified in China, but that the slower internet connections used there are hampering the flow of the currency, which could prevent its popularity growing.This, he argued, would ultimately lead to bitcoin’s failure.Guo is dismissive of Hearne’s comments.He says he remains optimistic about the future – and the potential for bitcoin to change established ways of using money.“For me it is a kind of freedom.Everyone and anyone can use it anywhere.It doesn’t belong to just one country.It is already crossing borders.It belongs to everybody,” says Guo.Danny Vincent is a BBC video journalist. features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”.A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, Travel and Autos, delivered to your inbox every Friday.