The Bank of Thailand (BOT) stepped up enforcement against unauthorized yuan-denominated cross-border payments and said it would hold a public hearing on a baht-pegged stablecoin by the end of the year, Governor Vitai Ratanakorn said.
Thailand Targets Yuan QR Payments, Plans Stablecoin Hearing
29 June 2026 - 04:18 CEST
By Oihyun Kim
Speaking at the Capital with Purpose conference in Bangkok on 26 Jun, Vitai said any baht stablecoin must be backed 1:1 by baht reserves and would initially be limited to settlement use by financial institutions, according to local media including Bangkok Post and The Standard.
Yuan payment curbs
The BOT has suspended around 5,000 accounts used for peer-to-peer yuan transfers via Alipay and WeChat Pay between February 2025 and May 2026, Vitai said. Personal QR code payments in Thailand must be settled in baht through licensed payment gateways. Peer-to-peer yuan transfers between Alipay and WeChat Pay accounts, which bypass that conversion, are not permitted.
The central bank is coordinating with the platforms to identify non-compliant transactions. Licensed payment service providers face fines, suspension or licence revocation for breaches. Money transfer services settling speculative forex trades face up to three years in prison and fines up to 200,000 baht ($6,000), while promoters of such trading to retail customers face five to 10 years in prison and fines of 500,000 to 1mn baht ($15,000 to $30,000), plus daily fines up to 10,000 baht ($300).
"The BOT has no policy to license currency speculation as a business," Vitai said.
Travel Rule consultation
Separately, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (Thai SEC), opened a consultation on a Travel Rule for digital asset transfers, requiring operators to share sender and recipient information, verify self-hosted wallets and retain records for at least five years. Comments are due 10 Jul.
