Russian Expats in Phuket Want to Pay With Stablecoins
A new crypto wave has arrived in Phuket.
Photo: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images
Stablecoins have come to the sandy beaches of Phuket. The tens of thousands of Russians who have migrated to the popular Thai tourist town since the start of the war in Ukraine have moved their wealth as digital dollars.
But friction arises when they try to use their Tether, or USDT, in the local economy: to pay rent, buy property, or pay school fees. If they are official residents of Thailand with local-currency bank accounts, they can convert these 1:1 representations of the dollar on digital-asset exchanges and obtain fiat-money deposits. However, one seamless, low-cost transaction, where they spend their Tether and merchants receive Thai baht isn’t allowed under current regulations.