Thailand has opened a nationwide pilot that lets foreign visitors convert approved cryptocurrencies into Thai baht for everyday spending, marking the country’s first state-backed effort to integrate digital assets into tourism payments. The TouristDigiPay program began on 18 August and is being presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira. Under the scheme, tourists must register with licensed digital-asset exchanges and regulated e-money providers. Their coins are exchanged for baht behind the scenes, enabling QR-code payments at shops, restaurants and hotels, while merchants receive only local currency. Direct crypto payments remain prohibited. The sandbox is jointly overseen by the Finance Ministry, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bank of Thailand and the Anti-Money Laundering Office. Strict know-your-customer and due-diligence checks apply, and spending is capped at 500,000 baht a month when card terminals are used and 50,000 baht at smaller merchants. Bitcoin, Ethereum and a handful of other large-cap tokens are expected to be supported. Officials see the controlled roll-out as a way to lure tech-savvy travellers and revive tourism revenue, which has fallen this year amid a sharp drop in Chinese arrivals. It follows a separate five-year capital-gains tax exemption for trading digital assets on licensed platforms, underscoring Thailand’s broader push to position itself as a regional hub for regulated crypto finance.