Thailand wants to revive tourism and targets Japanese cryptocurrency holders

The Thai tourism agency wants his country to be the first in the world to accept cryptocurrency payments, in an effort to revitalize the nation's travel industry, so affected by the pandemic.

According to a report by the Bangkok Post, the first step the Thailand Tourism Authority wants to target mainly wealthy Japanese tourists, as residents of that nation are considered the main holders of bitcoin (find out how buy Bitcoin with PayPal).

The agency said it is undertaking a "feasibility study" on integrating digital currencies into tourist destinations and plans to discuss its plan with the Bank of Thailand and tourism operators as soon as possible.

The new tourism objectives

"If we can prepare the country for the cryptocurrency market, we will help attract more opportunities and high spending tourists, especially the young and wealthy generations," Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of Thailand's Tourism Authority, told the publication.

“Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and a crypto influencer, may also be interested in visiting Thailand,” Supasorn added.

Supasorn said the agency has reduced its target in terms of foreign arrivals for 2021 from 10 million to 8 million visitors. Earlier this week, the National Council for Economic and Social Development estimated Thailand will only welcome 3,2 million foreign arrivals. The Thai Securities Regulator Observes Qualifications for New Crypto Investors

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a public hearing this month to assess what qualifications should be imposed on retail investors opening new cryptocurrency trading accounts.

A state worried about new retail investors?

According to a report by the Bangkok Post on Sunday, the regulator is concerned about investor safety due to the recent soaring cryptocurrency prices and the resulting deluge of new accounts on local exchanges.

The regulator aims to determine whether new cryptocurrency investors have enough experience and are in a stable financial position to deal with the risks of cryptocurrency trading and price swings.

"We should establish some screening criteria such as age, trading experience and level of income or wealth to limit risks," said SEC Secretary General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, adding that such measures are already in place to high yield bonds, which are only available to certain types of investors.

The SEC reported 124.000 new accounts in the first week of February, bringing the total number of accounts to 594.000 as of February 8, according to the Bangkok Post report.

The hearing comes after the country's finance minister, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, asked the SEC to monitor local cryptocurrency exchanges in an effort to protect newcomers.