Thailand's Cashless Leap: Ahead of the Asean Pack by 2028

[Bday Prang]

3 minutes ago, PB172111 said:

It will happen so better to be prepared than l standing on your soapboxes sprouting that cash is king. Be proactive and get used to it or fall behind very quickly.

 

You should stop telling others what to do.   You obviously don't understand the negative implications of a cashless society, despite them being explained quite clearly on this thread.

 You are free to use your digital funny money to your hearts content.  no need for you to worry about other people and how they pay for things.   try climbing off your soapbox  

[Bday Prang]

8 minutes ago, black tabby12345 said:

 

Thailand leads march towards cashless society

From now on, do they digitally document every single bribery?

From now on, will  they digitally document every single bribery as well?

It will certainly better the transparency of the kingdom.

 

 

 

Have you been drinking? 

[Xonax]

I prefer to continue paying with my credit cards, which gives me an average 45 day credit, 0% rate payments, special discounts and points that can be used for discounts or cash back. Only if I was given the same benefits with scan, I would consider to use it. Scan is like an electronic credit card, but without all the benefits, that the banks are happy to pay me, just for using my credit card.

[BoganInParasite]

Yeah nah, not keen on this. Happy to move towards a greater percentage to be cashless but cash needs to be there for power/comms outages.

[Caldera]

The Bank of Thailand should finally force merchants to accept PromptPay as a payment option.

 

It's ridiculous that 7/11 has been allowed to only accept their own corporate TrueMoney wallet for so long. They still seem to be reluctant to roll out PromptPay to ALL their stores, not just a tiny percentage.

 

That being said, in my opinion cash should ALWAYS be an option, too. No banking app, merchant terminal and processing network is perfect, there have been outages before and that will happen again. Having cash for those who prefer it and as a fallback for the rest of us is just common sense.

[metisdead]

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[Olav Seglem]

7 hours ago, smedly said:

the ultimate control, very disturbing 

 

while it is convenient to pay by card and various electronic methods we should all fight against this, cash is raw and once in your pocket is yours, if you remove cash you money is no longer yours, you are at the mercy of banks and financial entities to control everything without an alternative

Isnt that a constructed problem for 99.999% of the "normal" population ? 🙂

However, easy to see old people can have problems with "digital money".

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

I am currently in Hong Kong and surprised to see a lot of shops and restaurants saying no cash.

 

I was also surprised to see that using my Kasikorn debit card I can just touch it on the receptacles in places like McDonald’s and 7-Eleven and pay direct from my bank. Uber taxi from my bank too, I think you could live cashless here quite easily.

 

You probably think when you make a digital transaction in Thailand to pay for something that the exchange is simply between your bank and the vendor, that’s not the case, your data is also stored centrally by the government in a data lake that can be analyzed by AI.

 

From above:

 

"    was also surprised to see that using my Kasikorn debit card I can just touch it on the receptacles in places like McDonald’s and 7-Eleven and pay direct from my bank. Uber taxi from my bank too, I think you could live cashless here quite easily".

 

I noticed in Australia quite a few men had their card in their shirt pocket, usually buttoned up. They lean towards the bank machine in the shop where are buying whatever and listen for a quick sound indicating their transaction has completed. 

[Bluetongue]

Whilst cash is still part of the ecosystem I will still use it here, it is more convenient at markets, small purchases and around the village. Where it suits me I will use online or scanning to pay. I’ve never had cash stolen but I have had cards stolen and used in tap and go situations. So with cyber crime netting billions as a previous poster quite cogently pointed out, I don’t accept any argument that cashless is somehow safer for everyone’s money. I don’t think elimination of cash will occur in my lifetime. But following generations may be served by the “don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone line” which seems proverbial in these times.

[patman30]

1 hour ago, Sig said:

I have. Have you?

clearly you have not done much at all
it is virtually impossible for BTC to become a globally used peer to peer electronic cash

[kiwikeith]

8 hours ago, smedly said:

the ultimate control, very disturbing 

 

while it is convenient to pay by card and various electronic methods we should all fight against this, cash is raw and once in your pocket is yours, if you remove cash you money is no longer yours, you are at the mercy of banks and financial entities to control everything without an alternative

Totally agree, I think if it came down to the wire the people would revolt, it would put street venders and village people out in the cold, dont think it will happen ,it would be a return to slavery.

[patman30]

57 minutes ago, black tabby12345 said:

From now on, will  they digitally document every single bribery as well?

This is where it gets tricky here
and i hope every corrupt official realises the consequences of going cashless
cashless = no more (unseen) brown envelopes

[Sir Dude]

Going completely cashless is really dumb, there should be many ways to pay for items and some are more appropriate than others for differing transactions. Aside from the obvious invasion of privacy regarding the banks/government knowing what you spend every baht on, right down to groceries, it's the surrendering of complete control to the financial institutions which will make them even more powerful than they are now... citizen credit scores etc. will be on the way like in China, spend too much on beer and your score goes down etc., very Orwellian.

Secondly, and more importantly, you'll have to rely on an internet connection to buy anything at all... how dumb is that? What happens when the connection goes down and the useless ISP takes a day to get it back? What happens when the inevitable large solar storm hits and knocks out a few satellites (something like the Carrington Event, lucky it was only the telegraph operating back then). These lazy kiddie sheeple are walking blindly into a dystopian future which will strip away personal freedoms and privacy... but hey, as long as they can gaze into their phones and be distracted by mind-numbing TikTok shorts and Facepalm etc., no-one will notice or care.

[Hardcastle P]

6 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

How sad, the only person in Thailand who cannot use scan to make a payment and the only person in Thailand who cannot use LINE (you should try again, using LINE will save you on telephone calls, can be free on LINE to anywhere in the world, also easy to do video chat also can be free to anywhere in the world).

The phone has to be connected to the wifi in the store or connected over the phone network not easy for your average retiree .hell most delivery prople dont know how to use Google msps so this has little or no chance ever think before making disparaging statements. 

The retailer will be paying the charges and the banks will reap the rewards. Not forgetting the phone companies who will be charging for the connection. Draw cash out of a Mc no charge with cashless the bank banks charge they will not be operating it free.

[koolkarl]

Politicians just love sleeping sheep....  It isn't enough with cameras everywhere?

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, Sig said:

 

 

 

And there's Blackrock...  They just started a BTC ETF last year. In that extremely short time period, they now own about 2% of all BTC. Convince me that a company that is the largest asset management firm in the world, managing around $9.5 TRILLION USD, is wrong about the value of BTC! Good luck with that.

The ignorance people so proudly wave about to the world about BTC is staggering. Just keep right on following along with the talking heads in the mass media and other entities controlled by the banks. They obviously have your best interests at heart, right along with all of the politicians...🙄 They are all here to help you. So, keep right on funneling your money to them in their system. BTC is obviously a scam.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. And when they are as stubborn and arrogant as many BTC deniers, I'm sort of glad they don't drink. They don't deserve the refreshing fulfillment that water gives to one that is on the edge of fatal dehydration.
It makes me think of Plato's Allegory of the Cave (in Book Seven of "The Republic "). These ignorant deniers are just like those prisoners preferring to stay in the familiar darkness of the cave than be rescued and come out into the light and learn what their rescuer is trying to explain to them!

 

 

 

How much might you receive from Bitcoin for being their PR consultant?

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

Cashless society?

Hurrah! The end of untraceable cash bribes, an end to corruption!

Dream on.

[RickyJB]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Thailand is on track to outpace its Southeast Asian neighbours in becoming a cashless society, propelled by a rapid uptake in digital payment methods. A recent survey by Visa, a global payment service giant, indicates that Thailand could transition to a cashless economy as early as 2028, beating the broader ASEAN timeline by a few years.

 

Visa's Consumer Payment Attitude Study highlights that 22% of Thai respondents expect a cashless transition by 2028, higher than the ASEAN average of 16%. Pushing the agenda further, Thailand ranks third in the region for minimising cash use, with only 47% of wallet contents being physical cash, just behind Vietnam and Malaysia.

 

The national platform, PromptPay, appears at the heart of this shift, having significantly driven digital payment adoption, particularly notable after the pandemic. The increase in electronic transactions has also been facilitated by widespread smartphone use. In fact, a staggering 97% of Thais report weekly usage of mobile banking apps, leading peers in the region.

 

Mr Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa, Visa Thailand's country manager, acknowledged that although PromptPay has enhanced digital financial interactions and supported Visa business, its success has also challenged Visa’s traditional debit card operations. With a post-pandemic rise in debit card cancellations, Visa plans to combat this with new technologies like the Click-to-Pay system, slated for launch next year.

 

Furthermore, Thailand leads the regional charge in real-time payment (RTP) adoption, with 86% of respondents engaging in RTP activities weekly. This reflects a growing trust in digital transactions across the nation, reported Bangkok Post.

 

Despite these advancements, household debt levels and limited access to credit facilities mean debit cards still play a crucial role in many Thai consumers' digital payment landscapes. Visa intends to bridge these gaps while reinforcing card security for the future.

 

TOP Picture courtesy: Sanook 

 

-- 2024-10-05

 

Need to stop this nonsense, globalist control freaks. Cash is king. Use it 

[kwilco]

9 hours ago, smedly said:

cash is raw and once in your pocket is yours,

no true - people don't understand cash - tey just think they can avoid tax with it.

[kwilco]

I'm fine with "cashless" - but how can I use my foreign cards/phone etc without incurring fees on tiny purchases?

[sabai-dee-man]

5 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

You probably think when you make a digital transaction in Thailand to pay for something that the exchange is simply between your bank and the vendor, that’s not the case, your data is also stored centrally by the government in a data lake that can be analyzed by AI.

 

I don't think anyone thinks that! In fact, it's very clear the majority here realise it's quite the opposite! 

 

I've been saying for years now, cash will become a black market commodity. It's all about (a) tracking you, and (b) taking a cut on every single transaction. 

[John Drake]

8 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Plus, as you say, once everyone is cashless (as the WEF want), the banks can charge you what they want.

 

Absolutely! Plus enjoy paying cashless when there is a power outage (frequent in my area of Bangkok especially in rainy season). Several times I've been in 7 Eleven or similar store and when the power is out, staff is right there with a clipboard, recording purchases, cash received, and change made.

[Surasak]

Two washing machines, both take coins. How do they go cashless??!!

[John Drake]

6 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

I am currently in Hong Kong and surprised to see a lot of shops and restaurants saying no cash.

 

Hong Kong is now fully Communist. So no surprise. Communists want total control and want to know everything you spend your money own. Think social credit system, where there are, say, rewards on things like baby food (helping reverse the demographic decline) and penalties for wasting your money units on beer and other items that reduce productivity.

[Surasak]

6 hours ago, Gsxrnz said:

I explain the concept of a programmable CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) to people and get a blank stare. Almost nobody understands the concept the WEF and many governments are about to force on us. Everyone thinks it's just a debit card or a phone app to make life easier.

 

A CBDC is the ultimate form of totalitarian control. Your programmable "money" will be far worse than prison scrip or WWII ration cards.

 

They won't need any type of physical or legislative force to control you.

 

The first thing they'll do is attach carbon credits to every purchase. You'll try to buy a steak or diesel - sorry, you've used up this month's allocation. Or try to buy an airline ticket - sorry you've already used up your credits, but they can be "banked", so in seven years you will have enough for that trip to Thailand.

 

They'll also make your credits appreciate or depreciate depending on fiscal need - sir, you're not spending enough and we need to boost consumption. We'll devalue your credits by 10% each month if you don't meet the spending requirements.

 

CBDC's and the 15 minute city. Welcome to dystopia. 

Is there an alternative, and what is it?

[sandyf]

8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Like most initiatives in Thailand, unlikely to happen. Many rural Thais do not have bank accounts.

Like most on this forum you think the Thais are incapable of learning.

The Chinese went cashless because they couldn't trust cash, every chance the same outcome in Thailand.

[Fruit Trader]

30 minutes ago, Surasak said:

Two washing machines, both take coins. How do they go cashless??!!

[PumpkinEater]

Why in the hell is this “stuff” being shoved down out throats (in the name of progress)?

We can’t do anything without staring at our “smartphones” for hours a day…

With this digital society…and now especially AI taking over our thoughts and direction of “what is smart” will certainly lead the human race toward its own demise and obliteration! 
 

 

[Surasak]

4 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

I am 69 and use "scan" most of the time now, very easy. I also use Line to chat to most people, again for easy for me at least.

And I am 14 years your senior, and yes it is easy to scan for payments. However, I still like to be sure the scan is not a scam and take the appropriate precautions wherever possible. Some older and some younger cannot get their heads around these cashless payments, so this headlong rush to cashless should be delayed or proper training be implemented for the less competent among us.

I used to be a genius, but am much better now.

[Jiggo]

That's what the establishment want, complete control, if you don't conform you will be cancelled, that includes your cash flow.

(And of course those who depend on tips etc. will pay tax)