Thailand’s $15B TouristDigiPay scheme will let visitors convert crypto to Baht — 18-month pilot program is engineered to revive slumping tourism in the region

Thailand is making a bold bet on crypto-fueled travel. The government has rolled out TouristDigiPay, a new program that allows foreign visitors to convert their digital assets into Thai Baht for everyday spending. The scheme will run as an 18-month pilot starting in the fourth quarter, and officials hope it can generate as much as $15 billion in economic activity, as reported by Bloomberg and Reuters.

The program operates as a regulatory sandbox overseen by the Ministry of Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the Bank of Thailand, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Tourists will not be paying merchants directly in crypto. Instead, they will convert their holdings through licensed exchanges into a dedicated e-wallet, where transactions are settled in Baht.

For shops and restaurants, the process should look no different than a standard QR code p ayment, with merchants receiving only Baht. Withdrawals will be blocked until the visitor closes their account, preventing the wallet from being used as a backdoor for cash transfers. The monthly spending will be capped at 500,000 Baht (roughly $15,000–17,000), with smaller merchants restricted to 50,000 Baht. High-risk businesses identified by regulators will be excluded from the scheme entirely.

You may like

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Tourism makes up around 12% of Thailand's GDP, but visitor numbers have fallen sharply this year, as the country only welcomed 16.8 million tourists in the first half of 2025, down from 17.7 million in the same period last year. The drop has been particularly steep among Chinese travelers, who were once the backbone of Thailand's tourism industry. Arrivals from China fell 34% in the first six months, while visitors from East Asia as a whole have dropped by 24%.

The government has already lowered its 2025 tourism forecast from 37 million arrivals to 33 million, which is already well below the pre-pandemic record of nearly 40 million in 2019. Officials believe making it easier for tech-savvy visitors to spend in Thailand could help offset that shortfall and attract more tourists from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira described the initiative as an effort to modernize payments and reduce reliance on cash and cards. "This program replaces overse as visitors' reliance on cash and credit cards with more flexible digital payment options," he said at the launch.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Interestingly, Thailand is not alone in experimenting with crypto-based tourism. Bhutan has already partnered with Binance Pay to enable crypto spending, the UAE has signed a deal with Crypto.com to allow airline passengers to pay in digital assets, and even Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin accepts Bitcoin and Ether for space tourism.

Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.

For Thailand, however, the stakes are much higher. With tourism under pressure and competition from cheaper destinations like Vietnam and Japan intensifying, officials hope TouristDigiPay can set the country apart. Market analysts warn that the rollout must be seamless because if onboarding or payments are clunky, travelers have the liberty to simply ignore the option. However, if it works, the program could become one of the most closely watched tests of whether cryptocurrencies can play a real role in mainstream travel.

Follo w Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.