Thailand contemplates allowing cryptocurrency use in tourism industry
THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to draw digital asset holders from Japan to Thailand, and allow cryptocurrency to be used in the tourism sector.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said he had discussed this idea with the Technology Promotion Association (ThailandJapan). He explained that this strategy would serve the growth of cryptocurrency in the future, as well as the usage of technology in tourism business in the post-coronavirus era.
“If this idea is successful, Thailand will be one of the countries where cryptocurrency can be spent in the tourism sector,” Yuthasak said.
The governor added that Japanese people were the world’s top bitcoin holders with 11 per cent of holdings.
He said cryptocurrency was popular among young people in Japan. Some hotels and restaurants have grown by receiving the digital asset.
Yuthasak also claimed that South African entrepreneur Elon Musk would visit Thailand in the post-coronavirus era, if cryptocurrency could be used in Thailand.
He added that TAT was now focused on “the big fish in the market”, and cryptocurrency was one of them. The cryptocurrency tourist idea will be discussed with restaurant and hotel entrepreneurs, as well as the Bank of Thailand.
He said there was awareness of malafide elements taking advantage of the use of cryptocurrency in Thailand to act in illegal ways.
Bitcoin fell back to around $52,952 at 1330 GMT on February 22, after breaking another record of $58,332.36 at the weekend and passing $1 trillion in market capitalisation.
THE head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog on February 21 said a threemonth “temporary solution” had been found to allow the agency’s monitoring in Iran to continue, although its level of access will be limited from February 23.
“What we agreed is something that is viable – it is useful to bridge this gap that we are having now, it salvages the situation now,” Rafael Grossi, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters after flying back from talks in Tehran.
Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament passed a law in December demanding the country suspend some inspections if the US failed to lift sanctions.
The law is due to go into effect on February 23.
“This law exists, this law is going to be applied, which means that the Additional Protocol, much to my regret, is going to be suspended,” Grossi said, referring to one of the agreements between Iran and the IAEA under which inspections take place.
“There is less access, let’s face it. But still we were able to retain the necessary degree of monitoring and verification work,” he said, describing the new arrangement as “a temporary technical understanding”.
Grossi did not give details of precisely which activities the IAEA would no longer be able to do but confirmed that the number of inspectors in Iran would not be reduced and that snap inspections could continue under the temporary arrangement.
The new “understanding” will however be kept under constant review and can be suspended at any time.
Grossi’s visit to Tehran came amid stepped-up efforts between US President Joe Biden’s administration, European powers and Iran to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal that has been on the brink of collapse since Donald Trump withdrew from it.
Grossi described February 21’s agreement as “a good result . . . a reasonable result” following “very, very intensive consultations” with Iranian officials.
He was speaking after two days of meetings in the Iranian capital during which he met foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iran Atomic Energy Organisation head Ali Akbar Salehi.
Grossi said his hope in going to Tehran was “to stabilise a situation which was very unstable”.
“I think this technical understanding does it so that other political discussions at other levels can take place, and most importantly we can avoid a situation in which we would have been, in practical terms, flying blind,” he added.