Oobit Appoints Katashe Group to Lead Crypto Payments Strategy in Asia

Singapore-based Katashe Group has been appointed by open payments platform Oobit as its Strategy, Research and Ecosystem Innovation Partner, the companies announced. The partnership will produce market insights and consumer experience frameworks for Web2 platforms evaluating digital asset payments across Asia.

Partnership Targets Consumer Behavior at the Heart of Crypto Payments

Oobit, backed by investors including Tether and Solana, has developed Plug & Pay, an infrastructure layer that connects self-custody digital asset wallets to any Visa-accepting merchant. The technology allows users to spend digital assets in everyday retail environments, both in-store and online.

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Katashe's mandate centers on generating market insights, research and experience frameworks around how Web2 platforms across Asia can evaluate and adopt digital asset user experiences. The work focuses specifically on points where established global payment networks meet wallet technologies.

Eric Song, Co-Founder of Oobit, said: "Most infrastructure plays stop at technology. We don't. Getting cryptocurrencies into everyday payments means understanding how people actually behave, what they hold, how they spend, and what builds trust. That's what Katashe brings to the table with their expertise. Asia is where the next wave happens; we intend to be the infrastructure it runs on."

Digital Asset Payments Move Beyond Early Experimentation

The appointment comes as digital asset infrastructure moves past early-stage testing into mainstream consumer payment experiences. Oobit currently has live stablecoin payment deployments across four Asian markets: Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines.

The Philippines deployment targets a US$38 billion annual remittance market, converting stablecoin remittances into instant everyday spending. In Singapore, Oobit connects US$14 billion in BNB Chain stablecoin liquidity to the global retail economy. The platform has also integrated with Phantom Wallet, which has 15 million or more users globally.

A separate partnership with NASDAQ-listed VCI Global targets a US$3.12 trillion addressable ASEAN crypto-to-fiat payments market via the Voobit payment rail, with a Q1 2026 rollout across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Katashe Brings Practical Web3 Integration Experience

Katashe Group is positioned as Asia's first Web2-Web3 hybrid venture builder, operating from Singapore with a three-pillar framework covering Collaborative Venture Building, Communications and Consulting.

The group previously pioneered stablecoin membership payments for blockchain industry association ACCESS using GrabPay, one of Southeast Asia's dominant consumer payment platforms. That implementation demonstrated digital asset payments functioning within a familiar consumer interface, without requiring users to adopt entirely new payment behaviors.

Cheelip Ong, Executive Chairman of Katashe, said: "The intersection of wallet technology, stablecoins and traditional payment rails is no longer theoretical; it's happening now. Oobit has built the infrastructure that makes this transition seamless, and we're excited to help drive adoption across Asia by helping shape frictionless consumer experiences as digital asset payments become part of everyday commerce."

Appointment Signals Shift From Technology to Consumer Trust

The collaboration reflects a broader recognition that technology infrastructure alone does not drive consumer adoption. Katashe's research and experience framework work is designed to address the behavioral and trust dimensions of digital asset payment adoption across Asia's diverse consumer markets.

Oobit's live deployments across Asia span meaningfully different consumer environments, from remittance-dependent communities in the Philippines to sophisticated crypto-native users in South Korea, creating a multi-context research challenge that Katashe's appointment is structured to address.