BoT mulls stablecoins to pay for goods, services

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is considering promoting the use of stablecoins to pay for goods and services, specifically in some use cases, which will be useful for financial innovation.

The central bank has been drafting rules governing the use of digital assets and the regulations are expected to be implemented in the near future.

The BoT has also been studying how other countries' central banks supervise digital assets.

Some central banks wholly ban the use of digital assets, some of them fully back them, while others adopt a neutral policy, said Sakkapop Panyanukul, the BoT's senior director of the economic and policy department.

For instance, El Salvador accepts Bitcoin as legal tender.

China bans cryptocurrencies entirely and views cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related transactions as illegal.

Several central banks take a neutral position, which means promoting the use in some cases and banning it in others.

Singapore's central bank governs digital tokens, which qualify as e-money under the Payment Service Act, while Malaysia's central bank says cryptocurrencies do not qualify as a general payment instrument.

Mr Sakkapop said the BoT also stands neutral on the use of digital assets but also does not support digital assets as a means of payment but supports innovation development.

Digital assets are associated with high price volatility and risks of cyber theft, personal data leakage and money laundering. This could be detrimental to merchants, businesses and consumers.