Thailand Would Bar Stablecoin Transfers to Anyone Else's Wallet

Thailand's securities regulator has put out for comment a rule that would stop licensed operators moving stablecoins between wallets belonging to different people. Under the draft, a customer could take a stablecoin deposit only from a wallet or payment account verified as their own, and withdraw only to one. A daily cap of 5 million baht, about $151,000, sits on top of that. The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the consultation principles on 3 September and comments close on 25 September. Nothing takes effect yet. No start date has been set.

The same-owner test

Two accounts quote the text and they agree on what it does.

The proposal, in CryptoSlate's rendering, would mean "a stablecoin deposit from another person's account, or a withdrawal to another person's account, would be prohibited."

Blockonomi describes the same rule as a transfer reaching a customer account "only from that customer's verified wallet or payment account". In practice a licensed exchange or wallet provider would have to establish who owns the far end before processing anything, which closes third-party payments through a regulated Thai operator: no sending USDT to a relative, a supplier or a trading counterparty. Blockonomi also marks the edge of the rule. Transfers between people holding their own keys sit outside it, because no licensed operator touches them.

Three accounts, three versions of the cap

The number is the same everywhere and the shape of it is not. CryptoSlate has 5 million baht per person, per operator, per day, covering money in and money out together. Blockonomi describes separate daily limits of 5 million baht for incoming and for outgoing. Crypto Briefing gives a daily transfer cap of 5 million baht per licensed operator. Read the first way, a customer has roughly $151,000 of daily headroom in total; read the second, that much in each direction. They do not reconcile, and none of the three quotes the SEC's own wording on the point.

What sits outside the limit

Transfers between Thai-supervised operators are exempt where both comply with the Travel Rule, the requirement that firms pass originator and beneficiary details along with a transfer. That rule takes effect in Thailand on 27 February 2027, and all three accounts give the same date. Blockonomi and Crypto Briefing add carve-outs for authorised business transfers by regulated operators and by Bank of Thailand entities. Crypto Briefing alone reports that individual limits would be tied to a customer's documented income and financial position, which would make the ceiling personal instead of flat. No other account in this sweep mentions that, and the desk found no SEC text supporting it.

Volume, and the routes around the banks

The regulator's stated reasons are growth and evasion. CryptoSlate reports the SEC citing a rise in stablecoin transaction volume and value, USDT in particular, alongside money laundering, cybercrime and the routing of payments around international money-transfer rules. Crypto Briefing alone says the Bank of Thailand flagged USDT volumes in July. Elsewhere in the region the same subject is being approached from other angles, with a won stablecoin in Korea argued for on merchant fees and the Philippine central bank proposing a one-year freeze on payment licences. What sets the Thai draft apart is that it reaches into who may sit at the other end of a transfer at all. Whether it survives the comment period in this shape is what 25 September decides.