UnionBank crypto review: a bank in the chain, with a short menu

Reviewed by the Crypto Philippines Editorial TeamUpdated September 28, 2026 · 10 min read

UnionBank crypto is the Buy/Sell Crypto wallet inside the UnionBank Online app, run under the bank’s own BSP virtual asset licence. It suits people who want a bank in the chain and accept limited choice. Access is gated by a suitability test, Bitcoin is the only coin we could confirm, and the spread is not disclosed.

We score it 7.3 out of 10, sixth in our ranking of the best crypto exchanges in the Philippines. The licence and the bank behind it earn the points. The gating, the thin public information and the unknown cost take them away. Read our how we rate page for the weights. One caveat up front: UnionBank’s own website returned an access error to our automated check on 28 September 2026, so much of what follows comes from press coverage of the rollout (BitPinas, GMA News, Fintech News PH). Where we could not confirm something, we say so, and this review is not based on hands-on testing.

Is UnionBank crypto licensed and legit?

Yes. Union Bank of the Philippines is listed on the BSP list of licensed virtual asset service providers (as of 15 July 2026) as a bank VASP, with its office at UnionBank Plaza, Meralco Avenue corner Onyx Street, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. It is one of only two banks on a list of nine active licensees, the other being the subject of our GoTyme Go Crypto review. GMA News reported the BSP approval in September 2023, describing a Certificate of Authority to run virtual asset exchange services through the bank’s mobile app, including buying and selling Bitcoin.

That matters more than it sounds. Most Filipinos buy crypto from a company they had never heard of a year ago. Here the counterparty is a universal bank with decades of history, a regulator that can inspect it and a formal complaints route. Our list of licensed crypto exchanges shows how short the list of comparable names is, and our explainer on crypto regulations in the Philippines explains why the BSP has stopped issuing new licences.

A short history of UnionBank and crypto

UnionBank is the rare Philippine bank that has been in crypto for years, in stages that did not always connect. The timeline below shows the steps we can source.

1. Feb–Mar 2019Two-way crypto ATM for account holders

   UnionBank launched a machine (Bitcoin Magazine, 12 Feb 2019) built by Lamassu and integrated with Coins.ph. Only UnionBank customers could use it, confirming with an account number and two one-time passwords. Bitcoin came first, with more coins promised. BitPinas tested it in March 2019 with ₱500 and received about ₱496 in BTC.

2. September 2023BSP licence as a VASP

   GMA News reported that the BSP approved UnionBank to offer virtual asset exchange services in its app, with a gradual rollout planned for the fourth quarter of 2023.

3. April 2025Quiet rollout to select users

   BitPinas reports that the Buy/Sell Crypto feature began appearing for some customers without a formal announcement.

4. 13 August 2025Crypto Wallet rollout

   The Crypto Wallet was rolled out in UnionBank Online. Access is limited to select users and requires a Client Suitability Assessment.

5. 6 September 2025More users get access

   BitPinas notes that more customers began to see the feature, though no broad availability announcement had been made.

Sources for the 2019 machine: Bitcoin Magazine on the launch and BitPinas on the ₱500 test. The 2019 ATM deserves a footnote. Reports disagree on where it stood: Philstar and Fintech News PH point to UnionBank Plaza in Ortigas, while CoinGeek and The Next Web say the ARK digital branch on Ayala Avenue in Makati. It may have moved or there may have been two units. We could not confirm that any machine still operates today, so do not plan a trip around it. Our guide on Bitcoin ATMs in the Philippines tracks what is real.

The Client Suitability Assessment

The single biggest difference from the e-wallets is the gate. To activate the wallet, you tap Buy/Sell Crypto on the UnionBank Online dashboard and complete a multi-step questionnaire about your financial goals, investment experience and risk appetite. According to BitPinas, the questions also cover your knowledge of virtual assets and how much you expect to trade. If you do not meet the bank’s internal criteria, the app tells you crypto is not available for you, and you can reassess after six months.

Some readers will find this annoying. Others will see a form of consumer protection: the bank is asking whether you understand what you are about to buy. UnionBank does not publish the scoring rules, so we cannot tell you what a passing profile looks like, and there is no appeal beyond waiting. Compare this with GoTyme, whose risk profile warns you but does not block you. If you value a hard check, UnionBank offers one. If you want to buy in five minutes on a whim, it does not.

What UnionBank crypto costs

The bank says the wallet operates with “no added fees”. Read that phrase as a statement about separate charges, not as a promise of free trading. UnionBank does not disclose whether the price you see includes a spread, and we have no published quote to compare. In practice a platform that says “no fees” and does not publish a spread earns its margin in the buy and sell prices, exactly as Maya and GCash do. The way to find out is the same for all of them: open the coin, note the buy price and the sell price at the same moment, and calculate the gap. Our crypto fees and spreads guide walks through the method.

What we can say about the surrounding costs is mostly favourable. Because you are already a UnionBank customer, funding the wallet from your own account should not involve a third-party cash-in channel, though we could not confirm the exact funding flow. UnionBank also charges nothing for InstaPay and PESONet transfers, according to the 2026 fee list we reviewed, which helps if you sell and move pesos on. If you use an exchange like PDAX, UnionBank is one of the banks it supports for cash-in, and a common settlement bank for PDAX and Coins.ph. These are banking conveniences, not crypto fees, so they do not reduce the unknown spread.

Coins, limits and custody

Bitcoin is the one coin we can confirm, because the September 2023 licence coverage said customers would buy and sell it. UnionBank has said little about other assets in the coverage we could reach, and the bank’s own page was not readable to us, so we mark the full coin list, the minimum order, trading limits and whether you can send coins out as unverified. Do not trust any table that fills those cells in without a source. The app itself will show what is on offer once you pass the assessment.

Custody is another open question. BitPinas notes that UnionBank has piloted digital-asset custody with the Swiss firm METACO and tested a peso stablecoin called PHX for remittances and interbank transfers. Those are pilots. We found no confirmation of who holds the coins in the retail wallet, so we do not claim it. UnionBank is also a member of the PHPX consortium, a planned multi-issuer peso stablecoin on Hedera; we found no evidence of a public launch as of September 2026. If stablecoins are your main interest, see our USDT buying guide, which covers what is actually available today.

Security and support

UnionBank’s advantage is its scale and its history as a regulated bank. Its app is rated 4.73 in the Philippine App Store from about 175,000 ratings (28 September 2026), but the rating covers the whole banking app and says little about crypto. There is no independent security audit of the crypto wallet that we could find, and we will not invent one. Support runs through the same channels as the rest of the bank, which is a practical benefit: you have the bank’s branches, its standard support channels and a formal complaints process, unlike with an offshore platform.

The usual precautions still apply. Scammers imitate bank messages, and no genuine UnionBank message will ask for your OTP or password. Our crypto scams guide lists the common patterns.

Pros and cons

Who UnionBank crypto is for, and who should skip it

It suits the customer who already banks with UnionBank, wants Bitcoin exposure from a familiar institution and is happy with a short menu. It also suits people who like being asked whether they understand the risk before they trade. If a bank in the chain is the point for you, this is one of only two options in the country, and the other is our GoTyme review.

It suits you less if you want a broad coin list, published prices, stablecoins or the freedom to move coins to your own wallet, none of which we could confirm. Traders who care about cost will do better on a peso exchange with an order book; see our PDAX review, or the Maya review for small buys with send-out options. If your need is cash, our guide to buying crypto with cash lists options that do not depend on a suitability test. Whichever route you take, keep records of every buy and sell, because gains can be taxable; see our crypto tax guide.