Thailand's tourist wallet faces regulatory hurdles for crypto conversion

In Thailand, the introduction of a Tourist Wallet aims to facilitate foreign visitors' ability to make payments using QR codes, converting foreign currencies into baht. This initiative is essential as tourists now face challenges when attempting to use cross-border QR payments, which are currently only available with eight partner countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. The Tourist Wallet allows tourists to deposit funds through cash at provider counters, foreign debit and credit cards, and overseas bank transfers, with spending caps set to enhance transactional safety. The regulatory aspect, however, poses a significant barrier, especially for the cryptocurrency conversion feature. This feature remains suspended, pending a thorough regulatory review by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is testing the safety and effectiveness of procedures for allowing cash conversions from regulated exchanges and custodians. The reviews target potential issues such as money laundering and the risk of mule accounts, where illicit activities could be masked. The SEC requires stringent identity verification processes through full passport-based know-your-customer (KYC) identification to address these concerns. Until the sandbox review concludes and new regulations are enacted, the crypto aspect of this initiative remains dormant, limiting its current function to fiat currency transactions utilizing QR code technology. While the Tourist Wallet is poised to potentially revolutionize payment solutions for tourists by integrating cryptocurrency in the future, the path forward is heavily contingent upon regulatory decisions expected to unfold as they finalize the results of the ongoing review process.