Thailand Eyes Crypto-Linked Credit Cards, Revised Digital Asset Rules

Thailand is actively exploring legislation that would allow both tourists and citizens to spend their digital assets via linked credit cards.

According to English-language Thai publication The Nation, the country’s Ministry of Finance is aiming to streamline transactions for visitors. Under the new plans, sellers will receive their payment in local currency as usual, without necessarily being aware that the buyer utilized crypto.

The Ministry is reportedly already in conversations with the country’s central bank, the Bank of Thailand (BOT), to pilot the system before a wider rollout. In addition, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira unveiled several other pro-crypto measures at the event in Bangkok on Monday.

Chunhavajira said the government plans to merge the legal frameworks governing the country’s “capital market” and its “digital asset market.”

At present, these are governed by two separate pieces of legislation: the Securities and Exchange Act and the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses.

The officials said the aim is to enable investors to “transfer funds between the two markets more conveniently, thereby accommodating modern investment behaviors.”

Thailand eyes crypto tourism

The move shouldn’t come as a big surprise—Thailand has been trialing these types of crypto payments in specific regions for quite some time.

In January, the government trialed a crypto payments program on the island of Phuket, a major regional crypto hub with high tourist numbers. Meanwhile,  small communities such as the Huay Phueng district of Kalasin province have adopted Bitcoin payments en masse, with more than 80 local businesses in the area accepting the cryptocurrency.

Initiatives like these come as the country, which relies heavily on tourism, has been combating recent declines in visitor numbers, amid a smaller number of Chinese tourists and a comparatively stronger local currency.

Meanwhile, other Asian nations are exploring how crypto-friendly infrastructure can boost tourism. The small Himalayan country of Bhutan recently added crypto payments across its entire tourist ecosystem, enabling payments for everything from flights to street food, courtesy of a partnership with Binance Pay.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.