Bank of Thailand goes full detective mode on USDT, cash and gold 🌐

Thailand's central bank is expanding its surveillance of stablecoins and physical cash networks as part of an ongoing effort to curb money laundering, illicit finance and so-called "gray money" flows in the country. The Bank of Thailand is coordinating with the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission to audit high-volume stablecoin activity, with USDt (USDT) transactions, cash dealings and currency exchange operations identified as the primary focus areas.

"The measures we are implementing are not short-term fixes; they require the continuous deployment of multiple parallel strategies," Bank of Thailand Governor Vitai Ratanakorn said, according to local media outlet The Nation on Saturday. The central bank described the push as a sustained, multi-pronged campaign rather than a one-off enforcement action, with the stated aim of preventing regulated institutions from being used to facilitate corruption or shadow-economy activity.

Thailand's gray economy, which authorities define as cash that may originate from suspicious sources including the region's proliferating scam call centers, remains difficult to quantify. Reported scam losses reached 115 billion THB ($3.4 billion) in 2025, with around 173 million scam calls and texts recorded. The crackdown will broaden compliance duties for commercial banks covering cash networks, currency exchanges, gold bullion trading and "suspicious stablecoin transactions." High-value cash transactions will require source-of-funds declarations, large-denomination banknote exchanges without a clear business rationale will be monitored, and cash deposits above 5 million baht ($150,000) will trigger full disclosure requirements.

Digital asset and stablecoin payments remain outlawed by the central bank, although crypto trading is legal and Thailand's largest exchange, Bitkub, processes roughly $26 million in daily volume. CoinGecko data cited in reporting indicates that nearly 40% of that activity is forex-related, with the USDT/THB pair the most traded. Thai lenders imposed sweeping account restrictions and froze three million bank accounts in 2025 as part of the same antimoney-laundering drive, an effort local media characterized at the time as a "scammer crackdown gone wrong" after thousands of individuals and legitimate businesses were caught in the enforcement net.