Thai cenbank warns against baht-denominated stablecoin

[webfact]

FILE PHOTO: Thailand's central bank is seen at the Bank of Thailand in Bangkok, Thailand April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's central bank on Wednesday warned against use of a new baht-denominated stablecoin, THT, which it said could expose users to cyber theft and money laundering, with no legal protection.

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) in a statement said that although THT, which was created abroad on the Terra Platform, was not being used as a medium of exchange, there could be fragmentation to the Thai currency system "should THT or other similar stablecoins come to replace, substitute or compete with the baht issued by the BOT". (https://bit.ly/3tt9yFR)

This would ultimately affect the public's confidence in the stability of the Thai currency system, the BOT said.

"The general public should exercise caution and refrain from participating in any activity involving THT, as there are no legal assurances or protection, and users could also be at risk of cyber theft and money laundering," the BOT said.

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Martin Petty)

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-18

 

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[ukrules]

Perhaps the central bank should issue their own digital 'internet age' currency.

There's still time to be the first country in the world to do this.....

My prediction - they will do nothing, someone else will do it (like this one) and there's nothing they can do to prevent it or prevent people from using it.

[RichardColeman]

I'll keep my money in bricks and mortar, thanks. With my pensions and tenants rent coming in I could not give a hoot about digital currency.

[ukrules]

8 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I'll keep my money in bricks and mortar, thanks. With my pensions and tenants rent coming in I could not give a hoot about digital currency.

Each to their own

[talahtnut]

I've invested all my money in my kids,  so far bug-ger all return.

Clever aren't I?

[itsari]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I'll keep my money in bricks and mortar, thanks. With my pensions and tenants rent coming in I could not give a hoot about digital currency.

Ideal situation you have as long as your tenants have Thai baht to pay the rent . 

[Benmart]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I'll keep my money in bricks and mortar, thanks. With my pensions and tenants rent coming in I could not give a hoot about digital currency.

Choice is a beautiful thing.

[itsari]

Not much insurance with holding Thai baht either . 

 

 

[itsari]

2 hours ago, talahtnut said:

I've invested all my money in my kids,  so far bug-ger all return.

Clever aren't I?

Time will tell

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I'll keep my money in bricks and mortar, thanks. With my pensions and tenants rent coming in I could not give a hoot about digital currency.

I invested mine into making memories, I can take those with me when I go... 

[nobodysfriend]

Need to realize that all digital coins are just virtual .

You cannot touch 'em , you put in your real existing money to buy some , ( bitcoins ) , you will get a virtual wallet with a password to access it ... A lot of bitcoins have already been lost to their buyers because of lost passwords ( google it ) .

What about error 404 ( page not found ) , or access to your wallet is simply denied because of ' security reasons " ?

I do not trust this hype , I live in the real world , with real money etc .

But I understand that , for some people , it is an easy way to make money for some time ... but better change it to real money before it is too late .

[GreasyFingers]

5 hours ago, ukrules said:

Perhaps the central bank should issue their own digital 'internet age' currency.

There's still time to be the first country in the world to do this.....

My prediction - they will do nothing, someone else will do it (like this one) and there's nothing they can do to prevent it or prevent people from using it.

Don't worry, the World Bank will issue one soon for every country.

[Kwasaki]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

"The general public should exercise caution and refrain from participating in any activity involving THT,

Wasn't that said of Bitcoin, I wish I had bought one bitcoin at the time.

[AlfHuy]

11 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Wasn't that said of Bitcoin, I wish I had bought one bitcoin at the time.

I have a bit of coins, unfortunately, after checking,  I discovered they are not "Bitcoins".

[Cake Monster]

The Central Bank is obviously seeing this " Stable Coin the THT " as some kind of threat to the Value of the Baht.

This is something that could under mine the very structure of Society in Thailand, should this new currency take hold and flourish.

I doubt if he new currency has any legs, but for above mentioned thought, I am sure it will be banned asap

[khunPer]

8 hours ago, ukrules said:

Perhaps the central bank should issue their own digital 'internet age' currency.

There's still time to be the first country in the world to do this.....

My prediction - they will do nothing, someone else will do it (like this one) and there's nothing they can do to prevent it or prevent people from using it.

What is the difference, i.e. pros and cons, between cashless system for THB, and a separate digital baht-currency?

[chilly07]

6 hours ago, itsari said:

Ideal situation you have as long as your tenants have Thai baht to pay the rent . 

And you have tenants!

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

What is the difference, i.e. pros and cons, between cashless system for THB, and a separate digital baht-currency?

On a global basis you might find that half the world wants to use it as it is a real stable coin backed by a bank. No central bank has done this in an unrestricted way yet.

 

If the bank of England for example launched an unrestricted Digital Pound then I think it would be massively used and probably even impact the value of the pound over a few years.

I guess it depends - do you want all the world using your currency or not, perhaps not in Thailands case it might not be a good idea as the demand would be very large and it could push up the Baht.

 

[ianguygil]

10 hours ago, ukrules said:

Perhaps the central bank should issue their own digital 'internet age' currency.

There's still time to be the first country in the world to do this.....

My prediction - they will do nothing, someone else will do it (like this one) and there's nothing they can do to prevent it or prevent people from using it.

The Thai Central Bank does have Project Inthanon which is a Digital Currency tied to the THB and is in fairly late stage trials. This is all public. This is not for use by Consumers or Business but is for realtime gross settlement between banks. Not something for you guys to all have to understand, but the fact is that Thailand is actually on the forefront of this, not lagging.

They are working with the leading Thai banks and the R3 Distributed Ledger company. I am involved and I can answer questions offline. The Bank of Thailand is also working with the HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority) to integrate Inthanon with Lionrock (the HKD effort for a Digital Currency). These things are moving along nicely.

The BOT has a lot of smart people. We are fortunate to have them serving the country. While I know many on this forum like to beat up everything Thai, you could not be more mistaken. Here is a link to read up on it. PM me if you want more info. I will share what is public. 

The outcomes and findings of Project Inthanon-LionRock and the Next Steps (bot.or.th)

 

[khunPer]

5 minutes ago, ukrules said:

On a global basis you might find that half the world wants to use it as it is a real stable coin backed by a bank. No central bank has done this in an unrestricted way yet.

If the bank of England for example launched an unrestricted Digital Pound then I think it would be massively used and probably even impact the value of the pound over a few years.

I guess it depends - do you want all the world using your currency or not, perhaps not in Thailands case it might not be a good idea as the demand would be very large and it could push up the Baht.

 

As digital currency is not based on anything of value, it's hard for me to see an independent digital currency at all times being one-to-one equal with a real currency. It must be up to those accepting the digital currency if they considers it as same value as real currency. You could end up with two prices, one in baht, and one in digital-baht.

That Tesla and others begin to accept Bitcoins, and/or other digital currencies, might be a cleaver move to sell products to those having digital currency that is difficult to exchange to real money for whatever reason. The companies that supply the goods however, have no problems changing digital currency to real currency, as it's all with their books and tax-statements. I however foresee that Bitcoin-prices might mirror real money value of the products; i.e. change with actual exchange rate, if not all of the product supply chain is in same digital currency; just like any product sold in a foreign currency, but Bitcoin might be less stable.

[itsari]

1 hour ago, chilly07 said:

And you have tenants!

Yes I do . Been lucky through these turbulent covid 12 months 

[talahtnut]

I imagine crypto currency is a prelude to the extinction of

money concluded by a kind of digital stone age thieving.

Invest now, in a big axe, and perhaps a huge sword.

[ctxa]

15 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Need to realize that all digital coins are just virtual .

You cannot touch 'em , you put in your real existing money to buy some , ( bitcoins ) , you will get a virtual wallet with a password to access it ... A lot of bitcoins have already been lost to their buyers because of lost passwords ( google it ) .

What about error 404 ( page not found ) , or access to your wallet is simply denied because of ' security reasons " ?

I do not trust this hype , I live in the real world , with real money etc .

But I understand that , for some people , it is an easy way to make money for some time ... but better change it to real money before it is too late .

Error 404 (page not found)? If you need to use some third party company's services in order to store your Bitcoin.... Forgive me to say, it might be better for you not to have any at all. Because you might very well end up having them robbed (many scammers and hackers sadly 'live' in the cryptos space), and they make a living out of scamming/hacking noobs trying to 'get rich' with cryptos. 

The safest way to store cryptos long time is... 'offline' in a piece of paper which you might store in the bank in a safe box next to your gold, you get the idea... Literally... 

[itsari]

On 3/18/2021 at 7:44 AM, nobodysfriend said:

Need to realize that all digital coins are just virtual .

You cannot touch 'em , you put in your real existing money to buy some , ( bitcoins ) , you will get a virtual wallet with a password to access it ... A lot of bitcoins have already been lost to their buyers because of lost passwords ( google it ) .

What about error 404 ( page not found ) , or access to your wallet is simply denied because of ' security reasons " ?

I do not trust this hype , I live in the real world , with real money etc .

But I understand that , for some people , it is an easy way to make money for some time ... but better change it to real money before it is too late .

Perhaps change to precious metals before real money as you call it becomes extinct .