Thailand Plans New Rules for Stablecoins, BNPL and Gold Trading

The Bank of Thailand's (BOT) upcoming regulatory measures will extend to stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, which allow consumers to pay for purchases in installments. These new rules, expected between November 2026 and March 2027, will also specifically target cash payments exceeding THB 10 million in gold trading, indicating a focus on both emerging digital finance and traditional high-value transactions.

This initiative follows 18 measures introduced over the past year to address household debt, SME financing, consumer protection, and illicit financial activities. The BOT had previously tightened controls on cash transactions of THB 5 million or more and implemented reporting requirements for physical gold withdrawals exceeding two kilograms per day. These earlier controls reportedly coincided with a decline of over 57 percent in the value of cash withdrawals and more than 85 percent for physical gold withdrawals compared with January 2026.

Beyond regulatory expansion, the BOT is actively working to support economic stability. It has maintained the minimum credit card repayment rate at 8 percent to assist approximately two million debtors and facilitated over THB 80 billion in lending through its SMEs Credit Boost programme. Further plans include launching an SMEs Credit Portal in January 2027 and developing an Alternative Data Exchange, aiming to improve credit access and foster competition in SME financing.