If his Pheu Thai Party wins the next election, the opposition leader of Thailand has pledged to airdrop 10,000 baht ($300) in digital money to anybody 16 or older.
According to the Bangkok Post, real estate tycoon turned politician Srettha Thavisin launched the $300 giveaway program on Wednesday in the densely populated central Thai province of Nonthaburi.
Pheu Thai’s main adviser on public involvement and innovation, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has stated that this policy is part of a blockchain-based strategy to export Thai goods and bring digital currency to the country.
You have six months to use the $300 communal airdrop within a 4-kilometer radius.
Shinawatra has stated that the program is intended to promote economic growth in Thailand by making the country a center for financial technology in Asia.
Although the project has been criticized for its lack of openness and its failure to explicitly outline the financing sources, he indicated that the money will be invested in local communities so that people could use it within a few months.
Thavisin was reported by Bloomberg as saying, “Our country has been economically bruised over the last eight years, with less income and more expenses for the people.”
Funding concerns have been voiced by experts.
Some analysts have noted that there is no obvious financing source to finance the endeavor, and hence the idea has been attacked as a vote-winning gimmick.
Waiwit Thongthongkham, an employee of a commercial bank, admitted that the promise of free money from the government is appealing, but he questioned where the money would come from.
Analysts have also noted that Pheu Thai has previously voiced opposition to a Prayut administration proposal on a state assistance program for the aged poor.
Opposing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his Palang Pracharath Party, the Pheu Thai Party is a political organization founded by dissidents and veterans of the 2014 military coup.
Budgeting for all 50 million Thais will cost $500 billion baht ($15 billion), according to United Thai Nation Party senior strategist and minister in prime minister Chan-o-cha’s office Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.
He also implied that the concept was just a marketing ploy and pointed out that developing a digital currency would be very difficult and have far-reaching effects on the country’s financial system.
Thailand’s action is in line with a growing trend in Asia to foster a business-friendly climate for cryptocurrency startups in an effort to establish the region as a worldwide powerhouse for the industry.
Recently, it came to light that the Singaporean police and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have been working with local banks to improve the process of onboarding cryptocurrency service providers.
Similarly, Hong Kong’s goal of becoming a worldwide crypto hub has been the subject of intense promotion.
Officials in Hong Kong are reportedly planning to organize a meeting between crypto businesses and bankers in an effort to improve funding for the industry. This would indicate that Hong Kong is serious about addressing the many challenges crypto companies experience when attempting to get corporate banking accounts.
The Bank of Communications, the Bank of China, and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank are just a few of the Chinese state-owned banks in Hong Kong that have either begun providing financial services to local crypto companies or made queries in this regard.
