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James Carter

April 10, 2023

Thailand Opposition Vows $300 Crypto Airdrop If Elected Prime Minister

Should his Pheu Thai Party be victorious in the upcoming election in Thailand, the head of the opposition party has pledged to provide 10,000 baht, which is equivalent to $300, in digital money to anyone over the age of 16.

Thailand Opposition Vows $300 Crypto Airdrop If Elected Prime Minister

According to a report by the Bangkok Post, real estate tycoon turned politician Srettha Thavisin revealed the $300 handout program on Wednesday in the densely populated central Thai province of Nonthaburi.

Pheu Thai’s main adviser on public participation and innovation, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, asserted that the policy is a component of a blockchain-based initiative that aims to distribute Thai products internationally and assist in the introduction of digital currencies to the Thai market.

The $300 airdrop will have to be spent inside a community that is within a radius of four kilometers and within six months.

Shinawatra stated that the program is intended to make Thailand a center for Asian financial technology while also fostering the growth of the country’s economy.

He emphasized that the monies would be invested in local communities for people to use within a few months of receiving them, despite the fact that some have criticized the project for lacking transparency and not explicitly detailing the sources of the financing.

According to a comment attributed to Thavisin and published by Bloomberg, he stated that “our country has been economically bruised over the last eight years,” with less revenue and higher expenses for the people.

“The present administration has been administering IV drips in the form of modest monetary handouts. That is not the right way to go about things, and it will not generate the required and proper economic growth.

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Experts Show Concern About Sources of Funding

The program has been called a vote-winning gimmick, and several experts have pointed out that there is no obvious financing source to cover the initiative, which has led to criticism of the idea.

An employee of a commercial bank named Waiwit Thongthongkham admitted that the idea of receiving free money from the government is appealing to many people, but he questioned where the money would be obtained from.

Pundits have also brought up the fact that the Pheu Thai Party has in the past voiced opposition to a policy implemented by the Prayut government in reference to a state welfare program for disadvantaged elderly people.

The Pheu Thai Party is competing against the Palang Pracharath Party, which is currently in power. The Palang Pracharath Party is led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who was the head of the military junta that ruled Thailand following the coup in 2014.

According to Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, a minister in the office of Prime Minister Chan-o-cha and the senior strategist for the United Thai Nation Party, the budget would stretch to 500 billion baht ($15 billion) if all 50 million Thais were given a share of it.

In addition to this, he suggested that developing a digital currency would be a big obstacle, one that would have repercussions for the entirety of the nation’s monetary system, and he felt that the proposal was just a marketing ploy.

This decision by Thailand comes at a time when a growing number of countries in Asia are working towards the goal of becoming global hubs for the cryptocurrency industry by fostering an environment that is more accommodating to crypto enterprises.

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It was just recently reported that the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the police have been working with lenders in the country to strengthen their strategy for onboarding crypto service providers. This development came about just very lately.

In a similar vein, Hong Kong has been working hard to make progress toward its goal of becoming a global center for cryptocurrency.

It has been claimed that officials in Hong Kong plan to organize a conference between crypto companies and bankers in a bid to facilitate financing for the industry. This shows that the city is committed to handling a variety of issues that crypto companies experience when attempting to set up corporate banking accounts.

In addition, a number of Chinese state-owned banks in Hong Kong, including the Bank of Communications, the Bank of China, and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, have either begun providing banking services to local cryptocurrency businesses or have made queries into the possibility of doing so.

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