Thailand introduced its Tourist Wallet for foreign-currency-to-baht QR payments, but the crypto conversion feature is suspended pending a regulatory review through mid-August.
The Bank of Thailand said the Tourist Wallet is meant to solve a practical problem: Cross-border QR links are only live with eight partner countries including Singapore, Malaysia and, soon, China via UnionPay. Travelers from elsewhere still face friction when paying in Thailand, something the new wallet aims to address.
Tourists will be able to top up their wallets with cash at provider counters, foreign debit and credit cards, or overseas bank transfers. Spending caps apply: 500,000 baht ($13,800) a month for merchants with card terminals and 50,000 baht for small shops. Cash withdrawals are prohibited, and accounts can be closed only through redemption.
The crypto angle, however, remains conditional. The country’s Securities and Exchange Commission is testing whether regulated exchanges and custodians can safely let foreign tourists convert crypto into baht balances for use in the Tourist Wallet.
The scheme would require full passport-based know-your-customer identification (KYC), with regulators citing concerns over mule accounts and money laundering. Until the regulatory review process, called a sandbox, closes and regulators publish results, currently scheduled for later this month, crypto holders won’t be able to spend directly.
For now, the Tourist Wallet is a fiat play dressed in QR code convenience, with crypto adoption still pending the outcome of the sandbox process.