Thaiand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has on last Thursday launched the TouristDigiPay sandbox, a pilot project for converting digital assets into Thai Baht for foreign tourists’ payments of goods and services within Thailand.

Thai SEC said in a statement that to support this initiative, it has issued relevant regulations and accepted applications of digital asset business operators and electronic money (e-money) service providers to participate in the project, providing foreign tourists with an alternative payment method during their travels in Thailand.

Services under this project are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The SEC has solicited public comments on the principles of the TouristDigiPay sandbox project to test the conversion of digital assets into Thai Baht for goods and services payments by foreign tourists in Thailand.

The objective is to promote the use of innovations and digital assets to support economic growth and Thailand’s tourism industry.

Relevant regulations have been promulgated and published in the Government Gazette, effective from September 24, 2025 onwards.

“The TouristDigiPay sandbox is made possible thanks to collaboration from many regulatory agencies. The SEC supports technological development and innovation aimed at enhancing competitiveness,

“We believe this project will facilitate convenient spending through Thai QR Code scanning, promote Thailand’s digital economy, and distribute income across communities and localities, while effectively managing potential risks at appropriate levels,” said Anek Yooyuen, SEC Deputy Secretary-General and Spokesperson.

The TouristDigiPay project has invited interested digital asset business operators to submit applications from September 25, 2025 until December 26, 2025.

The eligibility criteria for business operators applying for TouristDigiPay project are as follows:

(1) Applicants must be licensed digital asset exchanges, digital asset brokers, or digital asset dealers, with readiness to operate according to the format, scope, and criteria specified by TouristDigiPay.
They must also integrate with e-money service providers to enable foreign tourists to use Thai Baht received from exchanging digital assets to purchase goods or services via scanning Thai QR codes nationwide.
In all cases, project participants must obtain SEC approval prior to commencing service provision;

(2) Participating business operators may provide services exclusively to foreign tourists who are temporarily residing in Thailand.
They are required to perform identity verification (Know-Your-Customer/Customer Due Diligence (KYC/CDD) in compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) requirements, and may only facilitate digital asset exchange transactions according to their licensed categories;

(3) Participants must comply with relevant criteria such as collecting and submitting requested data, verifying sources of digital assets exchanged into Thai Baht, reporting information to the SEC, having an exit strategy in place in case of leaving the project, as well as performance evaluation plans.

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