Woofun AI reports that the Bank of Thailand, in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has initiated a rigorous audit of high-volume USDT transactions and cash flows to dismantle the nation’s gray economy. Governor Vitai Ratanakorn emphasized that these measures are not short-term fixes but require the continuous deployment of multiple parallel strategies to identify and stop illicit financial flows.

The deeper driver is the proliferation of scam call centers, which generated 115 billion THB ($3.4 billion) in losses in 2025 alongside 173 million scam calls and texts. Stablecoins have become a preferred vehicle for transferring these illicit funds due to near-instant cross-border settlement capabilities, necessitating targeted surveillance.

Structurally, commercial bank compliance duties are expanding to cover cash networks, currency exchanges, gold bullion trading, and suspicious stablecoin transactions.

A more critical variable is the new requirement for source-of-funds declarations on cash deposits exceeding 5 million baht ($150,000), while exchanges of large banknotes without clear business reasons face enhanced monitoring.

Per Woofun AI, Thailand’s status as a crypto haven persists despite central bank bans on digital asset payments, with Bitkub recording $26 million in daily volume.

Notably, almost 40% of this activity involves forex, with the USDT/THB pair emerging as the most popular trading instrument.

Enforcement actions in 2025 saw banks freeze three million accounts to target mule accounts and gray capital, yet thousands of legitimate entities were caught in the dragnet. This marks a significant collateral damage event, described by media as a scammer crackdown gone wrong, highlighting the risks of broad regulatory nets.