BYC Ventures pairs blockchain and AI to help firms verify data

By Edg Adrian A. Eva, Reporter

PHILIPPINE technology company BYC Ventures (BayaniChain) is using blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses and government agencies verify digital records, with plans to introduce a lower-cost platform for small and medium enterprises (SME) within the next two to three years.

“Most institutions have digitized their records, but few of them can actually verify them,” BYC Ventures co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Gelo Wong told BusinessWorld in an interview via Microsoft Teams. “What we want to do is help businesses and government agencies digitize with verification.”

Founded in 2021, the company developed its flagship platform Lumen to address concerns over the integrity of digital records as organizations increasingly adopt AI and automate business processes.

The platform combines Lumen Anchor, which records documents on a blockchain to create tamper-resistant and independently auditable records, and Lumen Lens, which enables organizations to build AI agents that perform functions such as accounting, tax audits, legal compliance and branch management.

“Lumen operates as an independent root layer that sits alongside existing systems without replacing them,” Mr. Wong said. “We’re only here to amplify that and make it better.”

The AI agents analyze verified records, communicate with one another and generate operational insights using authenticated data instead of information that could have been altered or manipulated.

Mr. Wong said the platform is particularly useful for retailers and other businesses that process large transaction volumes, where manual documentation often results in inventory discrepancies, operational inefficiencies and human error.

Instead of relying on paper records that can be lost, damaged or altered, businesses can digitize documents through Lumen Anchor to create an immutable audit trail, while Lumen Lens automates routine tasks and supports decision-making using verified information.

The company has also deployed the technology in the public sector.

BYC Ventures is working with the Department of Budget and Management to record budget documents, including special allotment release orders and notices of cash allocation, on a blockchain to strengthen transparency and create independently verifiable records of government spending.

Mr. Wong said the blockchain creates a permanent record of budget transactions, making it easier to determine whether documents have been modified and allowing auditors to verify records independently.

The company is also working with the Baguio city government to record procurement documents and infrastructure projects on a blockchain.

Mr. Wong said the initiative would make it easier to validate government transactions during future audits. Several other local government units have also expressed interest in the technology, although BYC Ventures is focused on refining existing deployments before expanding further.

Over the next two to three years, the company plans to roll out a more affordable version of Lumen for SMEs.

“Ninety-five percent of businesses in the Philippines are SMEs,” Mr. Wong said. “That’s the market we want to capture. We are creating an opening for smaller organizations.”

He said adopting technologies such as blockchain and AI could help smaller businesses improve efficiency and compete with bigger enterprises without requiring major changes to their existing systems.

BYC Ventures is also looking to expand across Southeast Asia after entering Malaysia, where its technology is being distributed through the Malaysian government.

The company also plans to strengthen the platform by making it post-quantum ready to help protect digital records from future cybersecurity threats posed by quantum computing.

It is also developing Lumen Lens into a more autonomous AI platform capable of handling increasingly complex audit and operational workflows for businesses and government agencies.

The 2025 Philippine AI Report noted that 92% of organizations in the Philippines used AI in some form last year, although most deployments remain in the pilot stage because of talent shortages and data privacy concerns.

Philippine Blockchain Week President and co-founder Janelle Barretto earlier said local enterprises are expected to shift from blockchain experimentation to wider commercial adoption over the next three to five years.