On July 12, Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Vitai Ratanakorn announced that the BOT would begin auditing high-volume Tether (USDT) transactions. In doing so, he observed that nearly 40 percent of USDT sellers on local platforms were foreign nationals.
This decision to scrutinize transactions in USDT, a popular stablecoin, is a part of Thailand’s broader efforts to combat the financial infrastructure that enables the transnational criminal networks operating across Southeast Asia, many of which are linked to Chinese nationals or Mandarin-speaking actors. It suggests that Thai authorities are increasingly intent on disrupting the payment systems that make said criminal ecosystems possible.
In its crackdown on transnational crime, Thailand’s approach has for some time been evolving toward infrastructure-level enforcement. In the first few months of 2026, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission filed criminal complaints against offshore digital asset operators serving Thai users without a license, while simultaneously also seeking to block unauthorized platforms from the Thai market.
These actions highlight how Thai authorities are increasingly using licensing requirements, exchange oversight, and transaction monitoring to address illicit finance before funds leave the regulated financial systems, increasing consumer protections as a whole.
