The Bank of Thailand is increasing supervision of stablecoin transactions in order to prevent money laundering, illegal financing and unregistered money flows in the country. The regulatory step will focus on USDT, cash movements and foreign exchange trading, especially in high volume transactions.
Central bank and SEC will conduct joint review
The Bank of Thailand is preparing to examine high-amount stablecoin transfers together with the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission. The purpose of the study was announced as detecting illegal financial flows and stopping them from progressing through the system. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand stands out as the institution that oversees capital markets and digital asset activities in the country.
Vitai Ratanakorn, Governor of the Central Bank of Thailand, said that the measures taken are not short-term solutions and require the simultaneous and continuous implementation of multiple strategies.
Authorities do not limit their control area only to digital asset transactions. It is planned to expand commercial banks’ compliance obligations to include cash networks, exchange offices, bullion trading and suspicious stablecoin transactions. Thus, it is aimed to prevent regulated institutions from intermediating corruption, informal economy or suspicious money flows.
Unregistered economy and fraud pressure came to the fore
The Thai administration focuses especially on the informal economy, where cash movements of unknown origin are intense. In this context, revenues obtained from fraudulent call centers, which have become widespread in the region, are also considered among the risk areas. In 2025, losses due to fraud reached 115 billion Thai baht. Approximately 173 million fraudulent calls and messages were recorded during the same period.
Stablecoins are increasingly being used for large money transfers because they can provide almost instantaneous settlement of cross-border transactions. What attracted the attention of the authorities was this speed and ease of access.
Crypto transactions are free, payments remain banned
Although Thailand has long been listed among markets open to crypto assets, payments with digital assets and stablecoins are not allowed by the central bank. In contrast, crypto trading continues within the legal framework. The daily transaction volume on Bitkub, the country’s largest stock exchange, is approximately 26 million dollars.
According to CoinGecko data, approximately 40 percent of this volume consists of foreign currency transactions. The most popular trading pair is between USDT and Thai baht.
| Title | Data |
|---|---|
| 2025 fraud loss | 115 billion THB |
| Saved scam calls and messages | 173 million |
| Bitkub daily volume | $26 million |
| Share of foreign exchange transactions in Bitkub volume | About 40% |
Previous wave of audits affected millions of accounts
In 2025, Thai banks implemented large-scale account restrictions and froze 3 million bank accounts within the scope of inspections against accounts used on behalf of others, unregistered capital and suspicious activities.
During this period, thousands of people and legitimate businesses were also affected by the audit wave, and it was discussed in the local press at the time as a fraud operation that produced erroneous results.
The new step does not focus on a complete ban on digital asset transactions, but rather on monitoring transfers deemed to be high risk and closing weak points within the financial system.
