Thailand is making a bold bet on crypto-fueled travel. The government has rolled out TouristDigiPay, a new program that allows foreign visitors to convert their digital assets into Thai Baht for everyday spending. The scheme will run as an 18-month pilot starting in the fourth quarter, and officials hope it can generate as much as $15 billion in economic activity, as reported by Bloomberg and Reuters.
The program operates as a regulatory sandbox overseen by the Ministry of Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the Bank of Thailand, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Tourists will not be paying merchants directly in crypto. Instead, they will convert their holdings through licensed exchanges into a dedicated e-wallet, where transactions are settled in Baht.
