Thailand’s cabinet has approved an 18-month pilot that will let foreign visitors convert Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into Thai baht for everyday spending, part of a bid to revitalise the country’s flagging tourism sector. Branded “TouristDigiPay,” the scheme is scheduled to begin nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will run inside a regulatory sandbox overseen by the Finance Ministry, Bank of Thailand and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the programme, travellers will move digital-asset holdings through licensed Thai crypto exchanges into e-money wallets that can be used to pay local merchants via the country’s ubiquitous QR-code system. Merchants will receive baht rather than crypto, insulating them from price volatility. Conversions will be subject to know-your-customer checks and capped at 550,000 baht (about US$17,000) per person each month to curb money-laundering risks, Finance Ministry permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit said. Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said the initiative aims to ‘facilitate foreign tourists for their stays in Thailand’ and stimulate spending at hotels, restaurants and retailers. The country counted 20.81 million international arrivals between 1 January and 17 August, a 7.04 percent decline from a year earlier, prompting the state planning agency to trim its full-year forecast to 33 million visitors—well below the pre-pandemic peak of almost 40 million in 2019. TouristDigiPay forms part of a broader push to position Thailand as a regional digital-asset hub. In June, the government granted a five-year capital-gains tax waiver on crypto trades executed on licensed platforms, and officials have floated blockchain-based “G-Tokens” for retail investors. Authorities will evaluate the new tourist wallet’s performance and may adjust spending limits or expand supported currencies once the sandbox period ends.