Thailand has introduced its tourist portfolio for QR payments to a foreign level, but the cryptographic conversion function is suspended while waiting for a regulatory review in mid-August.
The Bank of Thailand said that the tourist portfolio is supposed to solve a practical problem: the links between the cross -border QRs are only live with eight partner countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and, soon, China via Unionpay. Travelers are still faced with friction when they pay in Thailand, which the new portfolio aims to approach.
Tourists will be able to complete their portfolios with species in supplier meters, debit and foreign credit cards or banking transfers abroad. The expenditure ceilings apply: 500,000 baht ($ 13,800) One month for merchants with card terminals and 50,000 baht for small stores. Cash withdrawals are prohibited and accounts can only be closed by redemption.
The cryptographic angle, however, remains conditional. The Country Securities and Exchanges Commission is testing if regulated exchanges and guards can allow foreign tourists to convert the crypto to baht for use in the tourist portfolio.
The scheme would require complete identification of the knowledge of the customer based on passports (KYc)With regulators invoking concerns about mule accounts and money laundering. Until the regulatory examination process, called sandbox, firm and regulators publish results, currently scheduled for later this month, crypto holders will not be able to spend directly.
For the moment, the tourist portfolio is a Fiat game dressed in convenience of the QR code, with an adoption of crypto while waiting for the result of the sandbox process.
