Treat AI and blockchain as primitives, not pitch lines. Start with a problem that repeats daily: settlement delays in remittances, counterfeit goods in supply chains, manual triage in public services, or thin‑file borrowers blocked from credit. Then craft a system that predicts, verifies, and records with minimal friction.
Discovery and validation come first. Interview users outside big cities: sari‑sari owners, market cooperatives, rural clinics, logistics brokers. Quantify the baseline (error rates, hours lost, fees paid). Define a success metric that money cares about and design an MVP with a clear before‑and‑after.
Architecture matters. On the AI side, use retrieval‑augmented generation for explainable assistants, tabular models for credit and fraud, and vision models for inspection. Wrap everything in a proper MLOps loop: data versioning, feature stores, shadow deployments, and rollback plans. On the blockchain side, decide between a permissioned ledger (for compliance-heavy partners) and a public network (for openness and interoperability). Encode business rules as smart contracts where auditability is critical; keep complex logic off-chain for performance.
Security and compliance are product features. Implement KYC and transaction monitoring to meet AML/CFT expectations. Map requirements under the data privacy regime: lawful basis, data subject rights, and breach notification. For high‑impact AI, add human‑in‑the‑loop checkpoints, bias audits, and decision explanations. Use hardware-backed keys or MPC for custody, and segregate signing from application logic.
Go-to‑market is coalition building. Partner with cooperatives, rural banks, logistics hubs, universities, and LGUs. Offer pilots with shared KPIs: fewer chargebacks, faster titling steps, reduced spoilage, or improved claims processing. Price on outcomes—e.g., a percentage of saved costs or accelerated collections—so customers feel aligned.
Funding and talent are accessible. The services sector supplies English‑proficient operators who can learn labeling, testing, and customer success. Tech communities are growing; diaspora pros can mentor in cryptography, distributed systems, and product analytics. Non‑dilutive options—grants, corporate innovation budgets, and development programs—can extend runway while you pursue regulated approvals and enterprise sales cycles.
Play the long game. Avoid speculative token launches; focus on utility and compliance. Instrument everything: latency, model drift, contract failure modes, and user trust signals. When you can show that pesos arrive faster, goods spoil less often, or paperwork gets resolved sooner, growth will follow—and defensibility will be baked into your rails.
