MANILA - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Tuesday over P18 million worth of coins have been collected through its coin deposit machines (CoDMs) since their deployment last month.

According to BSP data, the total value deposited as of July 30 is at P18,069,492.56 equivalent to 8,787,059 pieces of coins.

Deposited coins are directly credited to GCash wallets or converted into shopping vouchers, the central bank earlier said.

Coin deposit machines deployed in Manila, Pasay, and Muntinlupa malls were a hit, with retailers even designating a queuing space for depositors, the BSP said.

Due to the warm reception, the BSP is working on deploying additional 15 coin deposit machines in Metro Manila, said Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo Puyat.

This is in addition to 10 CoDMs in currently in operation.

“This is to address the artificial coin shortage. Instead na nasa bahay lang nila, para maibalik sa circulation,” Romulo-Puyat said.

BSP is working on adding more e-wallet platforms to the project as 98 percent of depositors opted to credit their coin deposits to their e-wallet accounts.

Retailers who have signed with BSP on the project are SM Store, Robinsons Supermarket, and Festival Mall.

Watch more News on iWantTFC