Bank of Thailand Outlines Baht-Backed Stablecoin Roadmap, Eyes Year-End Public Hearing
Bank of Thailand governor Vitai Ratanakorn has set out a multi-phase roadmap for a baht-backed stablecoin, with the central bank planning a public consultation by the close of 2026 and an initial scope limited to settlement among financial institutions, according to a Bangkok Post interview published on July 31.
In the interview, Ratanakorn framed the project as an effort to modernise Thailand’s payment infrastructure, align with global financial trends and reduce transaction costs. The Bangkok Post quoted him saying the primary objective of a baht stablecoin is to strengthen Thailand’s financial infrastructure by improving the efficiency of the country’s payment and settlement systems while reducing transaction costs.
A 1:1 Reserve Model And Bank-Led Oversight
Under the design described in the interview, the stablecoin would operate on a fully-backed reserve model. Every stablecoin issued would be matched by an equivalent amount of baht held in reserve, with reserves ring-fenced and redeemable at any time. The Bangkok Post reported that the proposal is intended to prevent money creation outside the banking system and avoid inflationary pressure.
Issuers would need to obtain a licence from the central bank and remain under its regulatory oversight, according to the report. The Bank of Thailand is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the operational framework, and Ratanakorn said the project has made significant progress since it was unveiled.
Phase One: Interbank Settlement First
The first phase of the rollout, as outlined to the Bangkok Post, would restrict stablecoin use to settlement among financial institutions. Additional use cases would be considered in subsequent phases, and the central bank may expand pilots from its existing regulatory sandbox to incorporate the stablecoin.
The consultation process is expected to take around three months, the Bangkok Post reported, after which the framework would be refined based on public feedback. The roadmap does not yet specify a launch date for any retail-facing baht stablecoin.
Thailand’s Programmable Payment Sandbox
The Bangkok Post interview also reviewed progress under the central bank’s Programmable Payment Project, which allows business operators to test programmable electronic tokens built on distributed ledger technology and smart contracts within a regulatory sandbox. As of April 2026, three participants had advanced to a second phase.
According to the report, TrueMoney is running an asset tokenisation payment pilot from June to December 2026, Bitkub Blockchain Technology is testing escrow, asset tokenisation and blockchain bridging from April 2026 to March 2027, and Om Platform is testing escrow payment services from April to December 2026. Several other operators, including SCB 10X, Bank of Ayudhya and Kasikornbank, have completed earlier rounds covering purpose-bound money and asset tokenisation payments.
The pilots explore baht programmable payment as a settlement medium for tokenised digital assets such as digital tickets, non-fungible tokens, investment tokens and utility tokens, using atomic settlement to complete payments and asset transfers simultaneously. A separate limited purpose-bound money pilot allows foreign tourists to exchange digital assets for baht programmable payment at designated events, settling via QR codes at participating merchants.
Southeast Asia’s Institutionally-Gated Approach
The Bangkok Post interview placed Thailand’s plan alongside comparable initiatives elsewhere in the region. Hong Kong’s monetary authority granted its first two stablecoin issuer licences on April 10, 2026, to HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), authorising Hong Kong dollar-referenced stablecoins under the Stablecoin Ordinance that took effect in August 2025. Standard Chartered’s joint venture Anchorpoint Financial completed a full-lifecycle test of its HKDAP token on the Ethereum mainnet in May 2026, while HSBC confirmed development of its HKD stablecoin remains on schedule.
Singapore’s stablecoin framework, introduced in August 2023 for single-currency stablecoins pegged to the Singapore dollar or any G10 currency, sets requirements covering reserve composition and audits, minimum capital and liquidity, redemption at par within five business days, and disclosure of reserve management and audit results.
The Bank of Korea is studying won-backed stablecoins while lawmakers debate legislation, with an S&P Global report cited by the Bangkok Post noting that financial regulators favour a conservative approach requiring issuers to be majority-owned by banks and focusing early adoption on institutional uses such as cross-border wholesale settlement.
What The Bangkok Post Coverage Suggests
The Bank of Thailand’s roadmap reflects a broader pattern across Southeast Asia, where high retail digital asset adoption is being channelled into institutionally-gated frameworks rather than open retail stablecoin markets. By reserving the first phase for interbank settlement and tying issuance to a central bank licence with 1:1 ring-fenced reserves, Thailand is aligning its design with the conservative elements of Singapore’s framework and the bank-led licensing model pursued in Hong Kong and under discussion in Korea.
The Bangkok Post’s reporting indicates that the public hearing in the coming months will be the next milestone, after which the central bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission will determine whether to widen the use cases beyond settlement among financial institutions.
A Regional Race With Different Gatekeepers
The Bank of Thailand roadmap lands in a year in which Asian regulators have chosen visibly different gatekeepers. Hong Kong has licensed a small set of stablecoin issuers under its 2025 ordinance, with retail-facing approvals arriving in stages. Singapore, by contrast, has used its Payment Services Act to channel bank and major-payment-institution issuers, leaving most consumer stablecoin activity inside the licensed banking perimeter. Thailand, the Bangkok Post interview makes clear, is closer to Singapore than to Hong Kong: the first phase is settlement among financial institutions, the issuer pool is regulated by the central bank in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and retail use is deferred to a later phase. Together the three frameworks describe a region moving toward institution-led stablecoins rather than the more permissive retail model seen in some offshore markets. Whether the Bank of Thailand can hold that line through its year-end public hearing, and whether the consultation surfaces pressure to widen the initial issuer pool, will determine how much of the Bangkok Post roadmap survives into 2027.