The Thai Ministry of Finance plans to introduce its digital investment token, the G-Token, with an initial offering of 5 billion baht ($150 million) within a two-month period, as announced by Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira during a briefing. This move is intended to raise public funds and follows the cabinet's endorsement of the token initiative as part of the current budget borrowing plan.
The initial issuance is seen as a market test, according to Chunhavajira. The decision comes after former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra suggested the country consider issuing stablecoins backed by government bonds earlier this year. Chunhavajira highlighted that the new tokens will allow investors to invest with relatively small amounts of cash and earn higher returns compared to traditional bank deposits, which currently offer 12-month interest rates between 1.25% and 1.5% below the central bank's policy rate of 1.75%.
Thailand has been actively expanding its cryptocurrency approach, having introduced a tax exemption for crypto earnings last year and recently adding USDC and USDT to its list of approved cryptocurrencies for digital exchange trading.