The plan will make the Bank of Thailand a second digital assets industry oversight body following the SEC, which is currently the sole digital assets industry regulator.
The Bank of Thailand says this next phase will be a pilot phase focused on testing "real-life applications of Retail CBDC" with the private sector.
The central bank says it’s fully behind fostering the growth of the digital assets industry, but banks must be cautious in their approach to protect investors.
The Thai taxman was to begin collecting the 15% tax this year, but it will now only impose capital gains from traders even as the government bans Bitcoin payments.
Bank of Thailand, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Finance Ministry issued the joint statement where they said digital currencies aren’t fit to be used as payment methods.
Thai taxman expects to impose a 15% withholding tax on digital currency profits but will hold a public hearing to collect feedback as it seeks to foster growth in the sector.
The initial testing of Thailand’s central bank digital currency, initially set for Q2 in 2022, will be pushed to later in the year because stakeholders need time to prepare for it, according to Bank of Thailand.
The Bank of Thailand has announced to conduct pilot tests of a central bank digital currency for retail use in the second quarter of 2022.
The stablecoin, called Thai Baht Digital (THT), is created on the Terra platform, according to Bank of Thailand officials.
Bank of Thailand is partnering with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to integrate the Hong Kong dollar into its CBDC system.
Thailand’s central bank is reported to be working with commercial banks in developing a distributed ledger system.
The Bank of Thailand and Hong Kong’s central bank have made progress in their plans to issue a central bank digital currency.
