Merkado Barkada
November 12, 2025 | 8:10am
Apollo Global [APL 0.01, down 5.7%] [link], the country’s only “offshore mining” company, announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Philippine-based blockchain firm BayaniChain Tech Inc. (BYC), establishing a framework for continued discussions between the two companies. In a disclosure on 10 November 2025, APL said the goal of the MOU is to “explore a possible merger, acquisition, equity investment, joint venture, or other mutually beneficial strategic partnership.” APL said blockchain’s evolution is “aligning perfectly” with its digital business expansion plans. It added that BYC is looking into the Philippine financial markets to “strategically expand its global footprint and enhance its brand equity.”
MB bottom-line: I called this two weeks ago when APL first revealed that it was looking to “diversify” into the digital space. Maybe we’re not getting a shitcoin (like I thought), but we are definitely getting something shitcoin adjacent, like a crypto payments app. I hate everything about this. It’s my opinion that APL has misled and defrauded investors with its failed offshore mining business. It’s so bad that the PSE is even asking APL to provide monthly updates on its business. So, for a company doing absolutely nothing for its shareholders, what better sector to get into than crypto payments? You don’t even have to do the whole dog and pony show with pictures of an alleged boat, or come up with new ways to describe your non-existent commercial operations. Now, all they’ll have to do is fire up Canva to make a cryptobro slide deck and say “blockchain” every other sentence. Way easier.
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