This week’s newsletter is not really about blockchain. It is about Thailand acquiring the ability to see, compare and connect information that was once scattered across separate government departments. The continuing crackdown on nominee structures may simply be the first visible example of what happens when those systems begin talking to one another.

The crackdown that didn’t disappear

For decades, it was no secret that foreigners wanting to circumvent restrictions on Thai ownership could use nominee structures. But these arrangements survived because of more than clever foreigners or clever lawyers. They survived because the wider system tolerated ambiguity. Documents were accepted, companies registered but the right questions rarely asked.

The trick didn’t stop working because someone got smarter. It stopped because the people who looked the other away (government officials, property agents, brokers) are now being told to look. “You cannot convince a man to understand something when his job depends on him not understanding it.” (Upton Sinclair)

But why now?

Thailand’s new ability to see

According to The Nation, authorities have used agentic AI to analyse more than 40,000–50,000 company-registration and land-transaction records, searching for patterns that previously might have remained invisible—companies sharing addresses, suspicious shareholding concentrations and Thai shareholders whose finances appear inconsistent with the assets they supposedly own.

Previously, a dubious arrangement could look perfectly legitimate when viewed through a single administrative lens. Once the data is compared, however, the system can begin asking whether all the pieces of someone’s financial and corporate life actually make sense together.

When the databases start talking

This is just the beginning. According to the BKK Insider, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission has proposed connecting civil registration, immigration, hospital and banking databases to combat identity fraud, scammers etc. The article says the stated concern is that identity fraud cannot effectively be tackled while government agencies operate separate databases.

“Identity fraud threatens national security.”

The proposed system would make it harder for someone to maintain a false identity across different parts of the state. But what happens when identity becomes the primary link between everything you own, earn, borrow, register and receive? If immigration knows who you are, the bank, the hospital, and even the civil registry knows you, identity becomes the thread running through the system.

The BKK Insider itself raises the surveillance implications of connecting immigration, medical and banking records, but there’s no denying that, for the first time, government, identity, money and ownership are beginning to occupy the same digital space.

Thailand wants foreign money—but on different terms

It would be easy to conclude from the crackdown that Thailand is becoming hostile to foreign money, closing itself off to foreigners, but that’s not what the current evidence suggests. In fact, it’s actively trying to attract more. The BKK Insider reports ฿219 billion in approved foreign business investment in the first seven months of 2026, with EVs, data centres, AI and advanced manufacturing among the sectors driving the investment. There are currently 30-40 AI data centres being built in Bangkok alone.

So Thailand isn’t closing the door to foreign capital. It appears to be changing the terms on which that capital enters the country. It wants investment that can be identified, regulated, accounted for—and increasingly integrated into a more internationally standardised system.

The government machine is changing

As reported by The Nation, Thailand is undertaking a major bureaucratic and legal overhaul as part of its bid to join the OECD by 2028. The government is reviewing 3,708 regional offices, expanding digital services and attempting to reduce overlapping responsibilities. As I reported previously, Thailand is also downsizing its civil service by offering voluntary redundancy.

More importantly, the government is using the same agentic AI to compare more than 9,000 Thai laws and regulations with more than 260 OECD legal instruments. As Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt states in The Nation,

“OECD accession should serve as a catalyst for modernising the public sector and bringing Thailand’s administrative and legal standards into line with international practices.”

Thailand is not simply putting government services online. It is using AI to examine the machinery of government itself while attempting to make its legal and administrative infrastructure fully in line with a much more standardised international system.

Connecting the dots

Why is the Thai government aligning itself with global organizations like the OECD? And why is it so important for the government to have a clear and unambiguous database of the citizens’ and foreigners’ identity? The answer to both is Real-World Asset (RWAs) tokens which I’ve discussed before. RWAs cannot solve uncertainty in the assets behind them. If nobody can establish who really owns the property, the digital version is no more reliable than the paperwork it was built upon.

Suppose a Thai property worth ฿5 million could eventually have its economic value represented digitally and traded as a RWA token? Before that can happen, what must be known? What is the asset? Where is it? Who legally owns it? Is that person the beneficial owner? Are there competing claims? Is the ownership record trustworthy? Suddenly the nominee crackdown looks radically different.

In plain terms, nominee structures previously relied on ambiguity, which Thailand is eliminating. As a result, identity is becoming the predominant factor because digitally verified ownership creates the foundation for tokenised RWAs. Thailand simultaneously wants more foreign investment and OECD-standard institutions so the nominee crackdown may be seen as preparation for the Thailand’s future economy rather than simply punishment for the last one.

What this means for foreign property buyers

In June, I argued that foreigners should think twice before relying on nominee structures to acquire Thai property. The crackdown has increased the risk, leaving the question fundamentally changed. It isn’t simply—can I find a way around Thailand’s foreign ownership restrictions? Now it is—what will ownership itself look like in a year? Two years? Or five years?

In the past, Thailand’s ambiguous economic system meant a name on a document didn’t always tell you who really controlled the asset behind it. With AI databases now beginning to talk to one another and identities becoming digital, that world is becoming harder to sustain.

For me, the nominee crackdown is therefore about more than enforcing laws that have been ignored for decades. Thailand is trying to bring its laws and institutions into line with international standards, clearing the decks for an economy which enables digital ownership. It isn’t simply digitising government. It is digitizing the relationship between government, identity, money and ownership.

Only yesterday we saw a Thai senator utter the once unthinkable—calls for allowing foreigners to own 100% of shares in Thai assets. Shock! Horror! Could this be the start of Thailand’s new digital future, I wonder?

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

There’s a video doing the rounds—The Rise of Losers in Thailand—along with a follow up feature article in TheThaiger that seems to be getting a lot of attention and buzz. An influencer going under the name Viajero, said the single biggest problem for foreigners who fail in Thailand is underestimating money.

I totally agree and said it many times in this newsletter that the old dream I’d term the “legacy image” of the Western farang, post Vietnam War, walking down a narrow soi with a girl on each charm and an ATM within spitting distance is long gone. Costs have skyrocketed and where once you could get away with irregular income streams, 30,000 THB/month jobs, cheap beer, 40-baht street food, now, with the permanently high baht and jobs thin on the ground because of AI, it’s a tough ask and only going to get worse.

Few understand the hidden traps that await, the dangers of relying on savings, the steely financial discipline essential and the importance of testing the waters before taking the plunge. If you’re retired, every year you have to stump up the 800,000 baht deposited in a Thai bank, or a monthly income of at least 65,000 baht. Alternatively, a combination totalling 800,000 baht a year is also allowed.

You may be able to manage this for a while but unless you’ve done proper legacy planning, you’re going to inevitably come up against hidden and/or unexpected costs. Arriving with only a few hundred thousand baht just isn’t going to to be enough.

Viajero’s right too about thinking teaching English is going to give you a decent life in Thailand, what he terms the “English Teaching” trap. While it may do as a gap year pursuit, an exotic backpack adventure abroad for the twenty-somethings to broaden their horizons before settling down into a career, it’s nothing more.

In fact, after a few years of the same local salary but with inflation, increased medical expenses and living costs rising, summer flights home crushingly expensive, you soon realise your lifestyle’s just not sustainable.

I was in this exact position myself circa 2008-2009 making a decent enough local salary at a semi posh Thai university but always knowing that if I wanted to retire here many years later (which is what I have managed to do) I would need considerably more income. That’s why I worked in the Middle East for about nine years—Saudi Arabia and Bahrain—and it allowed me the opportunity to make a lot of tax-free oil money which I invested in Thailand.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m lucky to have seen this way back when and made a solid plan and now, as a result, enjoy a comfortable retirement. Many others who didn’t see the writing on the wall may not be so fortunate.

What do you think? Is Viajero right? Are many retirees being forced to leave because Thailand has become too expensive?

Those following this newsletter will remember me saying many times that Thailand would eventually shrink its large civil service because algorithms would replace many routine government functions.

Some readers probably thought it was overly speculative. Now the government itself is discussing encouraging tens of thousands of officials over 40 to leave voluntarily because the AI era requires a fundamentally different workforce.

Digital Thailand

The headlines focus on early retirement but this isn’t really about retirement. The real story is government redesign. Countries don’t digitise services merely to put existing paper forms online. They digitise them because digital systems need far fewer people.

Look at what’s already happened in Thailand—90-day reporting moved online, the digital tax system was updated, PromptPay, digital payments like True Money and Rabbit Pay. Then there’s the national digital identity initiatives, online licences and AI customer service.

Each time these services are digitized, it removes another layer of administration. Jobs disappear.

Bureaucracy becomes software

As I’ve said in previous newsletters, once money becomes digital, property titles become digital, too, visas become digital, and eventually identities become digital.

What results is the government increasingly administers rules automatically rather than through clerks. Many civil servants become supervisors of algorithms instead of processors of paperwork.

But the real story isn’t about redundancy, per se, but the digitisation of government itself. The idea that ministries become software rather than buildings runs throughout my newsletters. I argue that once assets become programmable, much of the bureaucracy surrounding them also becomes programmable.

And that’s why we see huge data centers being built everywhere. China has its sights set on the EEC area Chonburi for some new AI data centers. Things will only accelerate from here. I wonder how many folks are aware of how quickly things will change?

Back in 2013, I wrote an article for Al Jazeera about Thailand’s curious relationship with Nazi imagery. At the time, swastika T-shirts, Hitler murals, and even school parades featuring Nazi uniforms regularly made international headlines. Many Westerners were horrified. Most Thais simply couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

Fast forward thirteen years, and very little seems to have changed. Recent videos circulating online once again show Nazi imagery being used casually

although this guy deserves a lifetime achievement award for his outburst. Reigniting the same international outrage, the reaction abroad is predictable, but the underlying explanation inside Thailand remains largely the same as it was in 2013.

The basic reality is that most Thais are not following the Western historical narrative surrounding the Holocaust in the way Europeans, North Americans, or Australians are. That isn’t usually because they support Nazism. More often, it reflects a gap in historical and cultural education. This video from back then highlights this fact.

The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the symbolism attached to figures like Hitler simply have never occupied the same central place in Thailand’s education system or national consciousness. That doesn’t excuse the ignorance, but it does help explain it.

Ironically, the social climate in Thailand has changed dramatically in other ways since I first wrote about the issue. In 2013, Israeli tourists generally enjoyed a positive reputation. Today, that picture is far more complicated. A series of highly publicised incidents involving some Israeli nationals—including arrests, business disputes, and reports of inappropriate behaviour—has generated increasing discussion on Thai social media and in local and international news.

Some hotels and restaurants have reportedly introduced restrictions, while online campaigns have even called for tighter visa policies. Whether those reactions are justified or not, they demonstrate how quickly public perceptions of foreign communities can shift.

Perhaps that is precisely why Thailand needs a broader conversation—not only about Nazi symbolism—but about historical literacy and accuracy e.g. the origin of the swastika for starters, not to mention cultural sensitivity, and the responsibilities that come with living in an increasingly interconnected world.

Thirteen years after I first raised the issue, the headlines keep returning. Maybe instead of simply condemning Thailand’s ignorance every few years, it is finally time to ask why it persists—and whether Thai society itself is ready to have that conversation? What do you think?

Invited in, then shown the door

For decades Thailand has spent enormous sums attracting retirees, investors and long-stay foreigners. Retirement visas, luxury developments, golf communities and beachfront villas were marketed around the world. Foreigners were encouraged to bring their savings, their pensions and their investment capital.

Yet many are now discovering that what they bought was not permanence but a temporary subscription to Thailand. As one recent article bluntly asked:

“Thailand is throwing out the foreigners it spent a fortune inviting in.” (Source: The Thaiger)

The recent controversy surrounding nominee companies and foreign property ownership has exposed a contradiction that has existed for decades. Thailand wants foreign capital but remains uncomfortable with foreign ownership. But what if technology eventually makes that distinction impossible?

Thailand’s temporary ownership model

Regular readers will recognise this theme. In previous newsletters here, here and here, I have argued that Thailand increasingly offers foreigners a subscription option for retirement, a rentier model, rather than permanence—annual visa renewals, changing regulations and uncertain long-term rights mean that many retirees effectively rent access to the country.

Property ownership has always reflected this uncertainty. Foreigners could own condominiums but not land; could lease property but not truly possess it; could invest substantial sums while remaining temporary residents. The underlying message has often been clear—you may stay, but you may never fully belong.

This model worked while the rules remained relatively stable. Today those rules appear to be changing e.g. through regulatory enforcement, and the result is growing uncertainty among foreign investors and retirees alike.

The nominee era is ending

While the recent crackdown on nominee structures has unsettled many foreign investors, the uncomfortable reality is that many buyers believed they were acting legally. Properties were marketed by developers. Lawyers established companies and land offices registered transactions. Thai shareholders participated willingly. The Thaiger makes the point directly:

“A nominee structure took a whole chain of people to create.” (Source: The Thaiger)

Another observation from the same article is equally important:

“The foreign buyer sits at the very end of that chain as its least informed link.”

For many retirees, the feeling is not simply uncertainty—it is unfairness.

Many people followed professional advice, used structures that had operated openly for years and believed they were complying with the law. Yet they may now find themselves carrying most of the risk.

The cost to Thailand

The consequences extend well beyond foreign buyers. The Thai property market already faces oversupply, slowing sales and weaker foreign demand. Developers increasingly depend upon international buyers, particularly in resort areas such as Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin.

The Bangkok Post recently reported that foreign buyers have begun delaying purchases as legal uncertainty increases. Investment capital, retirees and developers all dislike uncertainty. At a time when Thailand needs investment, the market may instead be encouraging caution.

My own view remains simple—keep your powder dry. There may be little point investing substantial sums until greater clarity emerges.

Nobody trusts the rules

Perhaps the deeper issue is trust. The Thaiger recently argued:

“Thailand’s problem isn’t its property law. It’s that nobody trusts it to last.” (Source: The Thaiger)

Rules and policies may change but, when enforcement goes into overdrive, the result is a property market that increasingly appears temporary, even for those willing to invest substantial amounts of money. What appeared acceptable ten years ago may suddenly become controversial today. Foreigners may be prepared to accept restrictions, but uncertainty itself becomes a deterrent.

Property is becoming digital

All is not doom and gloom though. At exactly the same time, another trend is emerging. Real-World Assets (RWAs) are beginning to move onto blockchain networks. Property, bonds and financial assets are increasingly being tokenised.

The Bangkok Post recently described tokenisation as one of the next major developments in finance. A building may eventually be divided into thousands of digital ownership units. These tokens may be traded, inherited or transferred internationally. Ownership begins to move away from geography and toward networks. The physical asset remains fixed in one location, but the ownership increasingly becomes global.

From nominees to NFTs

And this is where the discussion becomes particularly interesting for expats and retirees. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and tokenised assets potentially create an entirely different ownership model. Instead of one owner, a property might eventually have hundreds.

Instead of a paper title held at a local land office, ownership may exist digitally. Fractional ownership allows smaller investors to participate. Dormant property capital becomes active and tradable.

Governance tokens may also allow investors to vote on management decisions, maintenance budgets and rental policies. The property remains physically in Thailand, but the ownership becomes international. A Pattaya villa could eventually have owners in Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Thailand simultaneously.

The Philippines may move first

If this sounds distant, events elsewhere suggest otherwise. The Philippines has already signalled regulatory openness toward tokenised real-world assets. If neighbouring countries begin embracing digital property investment, Thailand may eventually face increasing pressure. Capital increasingly flows toward clarity. Investors compare jurisdictions.

The question may therefore become not whether tokenisation arrives, but when. And if it does arrive elsewhere first, Thailand may eventually find itself adapting rather than leading.

Who owns what?

Traditional property law was designed around nationality. Tokenisation challenges that assumption. If a property is divided into thousands of digital ownership units, who exactly becomes the foreign owner?

The house remains local. The investors become global. Nationality becomes increasingly difficult to define. The distinction between domestic and foreign ownership begins to blur. How will the Thai government respond?

How would existing ownership laws apply to a villa with hundreds of token holders spread across dozens of countries? These questions may eventually become impossible to ignore.

The digital Thailand I have discussed before

Readers of this newsletter will recognise this pattern. Thailand has already embraced QR payments, digital banking, electronic government services and digital identity systems. As I said in my first newsletter, the country has explored CBDCs, blockchain applications and financial digitisation through the mBridge project. Money is changing along with identity. Ownership may simply be the next stage.

The same technological forces that are changing payments and banking may eventually transform property ownership as well.

From regional assets to global assets

Many readers will immediately object that Thailand will never voluntarily abolish restrictions on foreign ownership. Perhaps they are right. However, tokenisation creates an entirely different problem.

Property increasingly becomes a global asset rather than a regional one. The twentieth-century property system was designed around nationality and geography, while the emerging digital economy increasingly operates across borders.

When a property in Pattaya can potentially have hundreds of owners across Europe, North America and Asia, Thailand may eventually face a question it has successfully avoided for decades.

What exactly is a foreign owner?

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

I haven’t been very active lately on Substack and probably quite tardy with my newsletters of late. I apologize for that because I’ve been busy with other writing projects, most notably, a novel and collection of short stories, both set in Thailand. I will for sure get back to writing more regular Substack newsletters when I can.

In the meantime, and as I’ve been saying in my newsletters, Thailand is changing quite rapidly, and everything is being digitized. This is an example—your personal travel data will now become available.

When the mandatory digital IDs arrive (to access services), you will be able to see everything, not just travel data. Along with the government.

All this is for your convenience, of course. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. :-)

Application form download https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QiQn9twcS1ininXM2fBu1O7LfXYlf3Ez/view?pli=1

For years now, the phrase “you’ll own nothing and be happy” has circulated as a kind of dark joke, usually attributed to the World Economic Forum and dusted off whenever Davos rolls around. It’s often dismissed as either technocratic fantasy or outright conspiracy. Yet the longer I’ve lived in Thailand, the more obvious it has become that this idea isn’t a future threat here at all. It’s an existing operating model. And it applies not just to foreigners, but to Thais themselves.

The truth is Thailand’s always been a country where usage matters more than ownership, where access trumps title, and where permanence is quietly discouraged unless you travel in the right circles. I don’t. The mistake many Westerners make is assuming this is an anomaly or a temporary glitch rather than a core design principle.

In reality, Thailand has been running a “rent, subscribe, renew” system for decades. The only thing that’s changed is that the rules are now being written down, enforced digitally, and applied more consistently.

That shift is something I’ve explored before, whether in From KFC to KYC, The Currency of Compliance, or The end of the Thai visa run. The pattern is always the same. Thailand is moving away from ambiguity and towards managed participation. Ownership, in the Western sense, simply doesn’t fit that trajectory.

The illusion of ownership

Nowhere does this become clearer than when a foreigner with real capital tries to do something entirely reasonable—protect assets, plan succession, or invest long-term in the country they actually live in. Back home, the default tool for this is often a trust. In Thailand, that instinct runs straight into a wall.

Thailand does not recognise private family trusts. Full stop. If you attempt to structure Thai assets through a trust, the authorities will simply pretend it doesn’t exist. There is no common-law jurisdiction, and no recognition of the separation between legal ownership and beneficial ownership in the way the UK, Ireland, Australia, or the United States do. That alone should tell retirees and high-net-worth foreigners something vitally important about any future direction to be taken.

When it comes to property, foreigners effectively have only three options: lease, usufruct, or superficies. Each allows use without true ownership. You may live in a beautiful house, control it for decades, and even pass on certain rights, but the land will never be yours. You are allowed comfort without sovereignty, control without legacy. You are, in effect, a long-term subscriber.

This is not a loophole or an oversight. It is the system working as intended.

A system, not a conspiracy

It’s tempting to frame this as uniquely hostile to foreigners, but that misses the larger point. Thais themselves live under similar constraints. Land can be expropriated. Banks can foreclose. Zoning rules can change overnight. Recent developments in countries like Norway, where citizens have been formally warned that private property may be requisitioned in wartime (“The Russians are coming!”), should disabuse anyone of the idea that this is somehow unthinkable elsewhere.

The difference is that Thailand never pretended otherwise. It never built a cultural myth around absolute private property rights. What Westerners interpret as instability is, from the Thai state’s perspective, flexibility.

This also explains why trusts are allowed in Thailand under very narrow circumstances. Since 2007, trusts are allowed in capital markets—REITs, mutual funds, debt instruments—regulated by the Thai SEC. These structures exist to serve liquidity, capital mobilisation, and financial engineering. They’re not designed to protect families, retirees, or succession planning. Trusts are welcome when they serve markets, not when they serve people.

That distinction matters, especially for crypto millionaires and digital entrepreneurs who assume wealth buys leverage. In Thailand, it often has the opposite effect. The more capital you bring, the narrower your permitted corridor becomes relative to your overall investment.

Learning to play the game

I’ve been aware of this rentier, subscriber-based model for a long time, and I’ve structured my own life around it accordingly. I’ve owned, or continue to own, various properties and land in Thailand, but they’ve always been registered in my wife’s name. That wasn’t just about legal necessity, though that alone would have been reason enough. It was also about realism.

I could never legally own the land anyway, regardless of whether I used a usufruct, superficies, or long lease arrangement. Rather than fight that reality, I worked with it. My approach was simple: buy income-producing properties—mostly condos—rent them out, and live off the yield, while my wife legally owned the underlying asset. She had security. I had income. And the system functioned exactly as designed. (See why my wife and I decided to sell our condos in Bangkok after 13 years.)

In WEF terms, I didn’t own anything. But I was happy—because I understood the trade-off. Thailand offers lifestyle and usability, not permanence and legacy. Once you accept that, many of the frustrations disappear.

This is a dynamic I’ve touched on before in Expats in Thailand—who do we think we are?and Retirement in paradise—why you always need a Plan B. Thailand is not trying to get rid of foreigners entirely. It is filtering and angling for a different type—short-term contributors, high-spenders, and mobile folks who don’t expect to entrench themselves structurally.

Who Thailand wants now

This is where the WEF mantra intersects neatly with Thai policy. Thailand no longer wants low-end, semi-permanent expats quietly accumulating assets and living cheaply for decades. No more Cheap Charlies. It wants digital nomads, entrepreneurs, tech workers, and elite visa holders who pay for access rather than demand rights. People who rent, subscribe, and move on—global gypsies who never put down roots.

Legacy expats—particularly retirees on marriage or retirement visas—are increasingly treated as a category to be managed rather than welcomed. That doesn’t mean hostility, just indifference. The system is being redesigned around clarity, extractable revenue, and controllable populations.

For anyone with serious capital, the implication is clear—Thailand can still be an excellent place to live, but, it’s no longer a place to anchor wealth, build dynasties, or assume continuity. Those who understand this early can still thrive. Those who cling to yesterday’s assumptions about ownership and permanence will struggle.

Navigating the reality

If like me, you’re a foreigner planning to live long-term in Thailand, the goal is not to resist this model but to navigate it intelligently:

• Separate lifestyle from capital. Enjoy Thailand for the lifestyle, but keep core wealth offshore where legal protections are clearer

• Use Thai options properly. Long leases, usufructs, and Thai wills work when used for what they are, not what you wish they were

• Plan for impermanence. Always assume rules will tighten, not loosen. Build flexibility into every decision

• Stop mistaking tolerance for entitlement. Thailand lets you participate—but permanence is not on the menu

“You’ll own nothing and be happy” was never meant as a joke. In Thailand, it’s closer to a policy framework—one that has been quietly in place for years and you just didn’t see it. That, more than any slogan from Davos, is the real deal on offer.

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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I’m kind of wondering now just how long it’ll be before this post is taken down for making Thailand look bad. Tick tock…10, 9, 8…

For months now, I have been returning to a single theme—Thailand’s golden era is over. Long-time readers will know this is a thread woven through my newsletters on the collapse of mass tourism, the tightening of visas, the rollout of digital IDs, and the slow disappearance of the easygoing, lightly regulated Thailand that so many expats once adored. What I struggled with for a long time was why this was happening so abruptly. Why would Thailand pivot away from the billions in foreign money that Western tourism has been bringing in since the Amazing Thailand campaigns began in 1997? Why disrupt a model that had worked, more or less, for three decades? I now think I’ve found the answer.

Name, rank & serial number

Recently, during what should have been a routine one-year Extension of Stay through marriage, I had an unexpected moment of clarity. The experience itself was something of an ordeal, part interrogation, part interview, but it was revealing. It forced me to look beyond the paperwork and consider the broader direction Thailand is taking. What if Thailand is no longer drifting economically, simply repeating old formulas? What if it is pivoting—deliberately—and what it is pivoting toward increasingly resembles China’s political and economic orbit?

The interview made something clear that I had perhaps resisted acknowledging. Thailand’s immigration system is being recalibrated, not out of malice, but out of necessity. The country’s priorities are changing. Long-term residents on marriage and retirement visas are no longer the default ideal. Instead, Thailand is quietly favouring a different demographic: wealthier, higher-spending foreigners, digital entrepreneurs, and short-term capital injectors who bring money in quickly and require little long-term accommodation. Retirees, teachers, and modest long-stay expats—once the backbone of cities like Pattaya, Chiang Mai, and parts of Bangkok—are no longer central to the economic model.

This isn’t personal. It’s structural but, to understand it properly, you have to follow the money.

Follow the money

Thailand’s economy is under strain in ways that are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. The baht remains stubbornly strong at precisely the moment Thailand needs tourism revenue the most. Europeans, Americans, and Brits now receive far less value when converting their currencies, while prices in tourist centres continue to rise without any corresponding improvement in quality or experience. Beer is more expensive, entertainment costs are creeping up, and value—once Thailand’s greatest selling point—is evaporating. Add a recent 53% increase in airport taxes, and it’s no surprise that travellers are choosing Vietnam or Cambodia instead.

The frustration is visible everywhere, where tourists openly complain about the strong baht and banking fees:

The Pattaya Mail has covered this, too,

“Several visitors say the timing feels painfully predictable. ‘It’s amazing how the best exchange rate always seems to be in September, just before tourists arrive, and the worst around Christmas and New Year,’ one long-term visitor remarked. Whether coincidence or not, the perception adds to growing distrust of Thailand’s banking system, which critics describe as archaic, fee-heavy, and hostile to foreign users.”

It’s the economy, stupid

This isn’t anecdotal; it’s economic reality. Thailand has been hit by a succession of shocks—the March earthquake, a damaging border dispute with Cambodia, severe flooding across multiple provinces, and household debt hovering near 90% of GDP. The Bangkok Post recently reported that Thailand is considering increasing capital inflow thresholds from $1 million to $10 million in an attempt to stabilise parts of the economy. At the same time, China—once Cambodia’s largest creditor—has already halted lending to Phnom Penh. When elephants move, grass gets crushed, and Thailand sits uncomfortably close to the fault line.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand has been trading near twenty-year lows, further undermined by corporate fraud scandals now emerging across multiple listed companies, shaking investor confidence. The banking sector is also showing signs of stress. Several banks have frozen accounts belonging to both Thais and foreigners, prompting concern and eroding trust. Legal analyst Benjamin Hart has documented this trend in detail.

The response has been predictable. Money is moving out of the system. Thais and expats alike are reducing exposure, holding more cash, or transferring wealth into cryptocurrencies. All of this is happening while the property market buckles under the weight of oversupply, with more than 1.6 million empty homes and trillions of baht locked into unproductive assets, as reported by Asean Now and The Nation.

When a country’s currency is too strong, tourists are leaving, households are drowning in debt, banks are tightening controls, and property markets are stagnating, options narrow. And when options narrow, countries look for lifelines.

This is where China re-enters the story

Across Southeast Asia, China has followed a familiar pattern: provide infrastructure loans, wait for repayment pressure, then expand influence. Cambodia now owes a significant portion of its public debt to China. Sri Lanka lost control of Hambantota Port after failing to service Chinese loans. Laos has effectively tied large parts of its energy and transport infrastructure to Beijing. These are not isolated cases; they are a regional template.

According to the ex Forbes Bureau Chief, Benjamin Fulford, “This is why the Russians are joining the US military white hats to prevent a Chinese military takeover of Cambodia.”

So the question becomes unavoidable—did Thailand quietly take on significant post-Covid financing from China, and is it now adjusting policy accordingly? The shift toward digital IDs, tighter financial oversight, reduced tolerance for cash, and a growing emphasis on high-value visitors begins to make sense when viewed through this lens. If Thailand is economically exposed, then maintaining alignment with Beijing becomes more important than accommodating retirees or low-spending long-term residents.

This is the core point—expats are not being pushed out because they are unwanted as people, but because they no longer fit the emerging economic model.

Still a country for old men?

If Thailand continues its pivot toward China’s orbit, its governance will increasingly reflect Chinese priorities. Digital identity systems, transaction monitoring, biometric verification, and reduced anonymity are not speculative concepts; they are already being introduced. For retirees and long-term expats, this represents a profound shift. Thailand was once attractive precisely because it was informal, forgiving, and flexible. That version of Thailand is fading.

Marriage and retirement visas may still appear affordable on paper—Non-Immigrant renewals remain 1,900 THB—but the real barrier is financial seasoning: 400,000 to 800,000 THB tied up, monitored, and potentially subject to future increases and/or bank freezes. The direction of travel is clear. Low-cost long stays will be discouraged. High-cost, high-certainty visas will be promoted.

Culturally, the change is visible, too. Bangkok is edging toward a Shanghai-lite atmosphere. Pattaya is being reshaped into a managed tourism zone. Chiang Mai is emerging as a testing ground for digital systems. None of this is accidental.

For retirees and older expats, the question is no longer whether Thailand is changing, but whether the new Thailand still suits them.

Four ways to navigate this new reality:

• Diversify your residency strategy—don’t rely on a single visa pathway if long-term stability matters to you

• Spread financial risk—use multiple banks, offshore options, and avoid concentrating assets in one system

• Plan for higher costs—assume that long-stay visas will become more expensive, not less

• Maintain a credible Plan B—Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos remain viable alternatives for now

Thailand’s golden era is not coming back. What replaces it will be more modern, more digital, more efficient—but less forgiving. The dragon era is beginning, and every expat must decide whether they can adapt to what comes next, or if it’s no longer a country for old men.

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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Anyone following this newsletter from the beginning will remember what I wrote back in January—Newsletter #2—Thailand’s New Taxes Could Cost You More Than You Think—which marked the very first major warning sign of where the country was heading. That newsletter broke down the 2024 foreign-sourced income rule and its impossible mechanics. How could the Thai Revenue Department realistically audit hundreds of thousands of separate foreign transfers in order to enforce the “remittance year” requirement?

Even the Bangkok Post framed the revised approach as an attempt to “spur inflows,” while quietly acknowledging a more fundamental weakness—the Thai state does not actually know how much foreign money enters the country each year. The rule looked chaotic because the infrastructure to enforce it did not exist. But now it does. And what if that tax rule was never the real story, but only the first step? What if the real solution—the real intention—was always waiting in the wings?

The hidden architecture

As I sit here sipping coffee and working through the last piece of cake on the table, it becomes difficult to ignore what has been obvious for months. Thai banking remains slow, inconsistent, and technologically fragmented. As I explained in Newsletter #17–the Banking Clash—the system is messy and opaque, with one bank freezing accounts for vague “compliance issues” while another bank waves through identical transactions.

Bangkok Bank has been especially unpredictable, swinging from hyper-strict to indifferent depending on the department and the staff member. For Thailand to meaningfully enforce its new foreign-income tax regime, it needs something far more powerful than NDID, bank statements, or half-synchronized compliance departments. It needs a state-issued digital currency with perfect traceability. And that, I suspect, may have been the plan all along.

The digital baht as a tool

Thailand’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot was publicly presented as a harmless modernization programme—efficiency, speed, innovation. But a CBDC does something far more valuable than enabling fast payments. It solves the government’s biggest enforcement problem in one stroke. A digital baht can be permanently traceable, meaning every unit of currency carries a full transfer history.

It can be identity-linked, meaning every transaction is automatically tied to a verified profile. And it can be made programmable, meaning tax rules could one day be embedded directly into the money itself. This is where Newsletter #18—From KFC to KYC—becomes essential context. Thailand’s shift from an informal analog society to a fully monitored digital one is no longer theoretical. A CBDC closes the last informal gaps. It eliminates plausible deniability. It guarantees a complete audit trail.

As I argued in Newsletter #19–the Tea Money piece—the old, flexible, human-centred system is disappearing. Those moments at the tax office or the land office where a handwritten form, a friendly nod, or an under-the-table “express fee” helped push your documents to the front of the queue belong to a vanishing world. With CBDC there is no longer a person to negotiate with and no manual process to exploit. The ledger becomes the administrator. The administrator becomes the law.

Tourists as the test group

For anyone who still believes Thailand’s CBDC is a distant idea, consider the quiet rollout of Tourist DigiPay, a three-year nationwide pilot allowing foreign visitors to convert digital assets from their home countries directly into digital Thai baht. The SEC, the Bank of Thailand, and AMLO—three agencies responsible for monitoring financial flows—are all involved.

On paper it makes no sense. Why would a tourist hand over passport data, biometric information, and KYC documentation simply to buy Thai noodles? Pay for transport? Or book a hotel? With Visa, Mastercard, Wise, Revolut, and contactless payments already frictionless, why would anyone voluntarily convert assets into digital baht? The whole process seems counterintuitive.

Look deeper though. Tourists aren’t the target. They are the test group. The pilot is not about visitors but about infrastructure—normalizing a system in which foreign money enters a monitored, identity-linked digital environment. Once this infrastructure is stable, it becomes effortless to extend the same system to expats, retirees, long-stay foreigners and even repatriating Thais. At that point, CBDC begins to offer the state exactly what it has never had—real-time visibility into every foreign-sourced baht entering Thailand.

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The enforcement layer

And this is where the pieces of the puzzle finally align. A CBDC does not need to replace cash. It only needs to become the settlement layer through which foreign inflows pass. Once that happens, the state can calculate tax liability the moment foreign money is converted. Enforcement becomes automated and unambiguous. No more lost transfers. No more explanations at the bank. No more loopholes based on timing. A foreign-income rule that looked impossible last year suddenly becomes not only enforceable, but effortless.

This brings us to Newsletter #20—Stillness in the Storm / The Golden Cage—where I explained that Thailand remains one of the safest retirement destinations in the world despite its rising costs, digital surveillance, and bureaucratic inconsistencies. Safety, however, always has a price. The digital baht is the price. It is the final lock on the golden cage.

Once foreign retirees begin converting pensions, savings, or crypto into CBDCs—voluntarily or because banks default to it—every baht entering the country becomes immediately visible to the state. Once the ledger knows, the Thai government knows. There will be no more ambiguous transfers, no more quiet workarounds, and no more plausible deniability.

The compliance crossroads

This is why the question facing retirees is no longer abstract. When I look back at the evolution of this newsletter—from the foreign-income tax rule (#2), to the banking inconsistencies (#17), to the KYC transition (#18), to the end of informal negotiation (#19), and finally to the digital golden cage (#20)—the pattern is unmistakable.

It all leads here—to compliance as currency, to visibility as policy, and to CBDCs as the missing link connecting Thailand’s analog past to its digital future. What many retirees do not yet realize is that the system is not coming. It already exists. Only adoption remains.

So here is the question that matters most—are you still prepared to retire in Thailand once every foreign transfer, every pension payment, every crypto conversion, and every overseas top-up is automatically stored on a permanent, state-controlled ledger?

Are you prepared for a future where compliance is automatic and unavoidable, and where the Thai government finally has the ability to measure every baht you bring into the country? The analog Thailand is gone. The digital Thailand—the one that tracks, timestamps, and tallies every inflow—is already here. You must now decide whether you want to live inside this gilded cage or seek pastures yonder.

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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Note to all my subscribers:

To all those subscribers coming on board since January, 2025, thank you for all your support and the many comments and suggestions that I have received, both privately and publicly. Much appreciated.

Despite requests from subscribers to add a payment option like Stripe, I have resisted. This is partly because of the mountains of personal and biometric information this app requires and also because I wanted to keep the newsletter free for as long as possible to let people see whether they would find it useful and informative or not before committing to pay for it.

This is just a heads up to let you know that as of January, 2026, after a year of entirely free newsletters, I will be providing a link (Thai bank and crypto only) where you can make a donation to help keep this newsletter going. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount, just something to say thank you for the tens of hours of work that I’ve put into creating these newsletters.

I’m assuming that after a year of free content, you should probably already know whether you’re getting some value from this newsletter or not. If it’s the latter, please let me know through email and I will remove your email address from my subscriber list. Obviously I’ll be sorry to see you go, but if it’s not for you, that’s OK.

All the best

Tom

P.S. The next newsletter will be along later today…

On most mornings, the outside world reaches me through a screen. I sit with a coffee at my veranda table in a sleepy Thai beach town and scroll through what feels like another planet—protests in Europe, political meltdowns in America, collapsing currencies, and endless punditry about who’s to blame. You watch the news, and the world seems to be losing its mind.

Then it hits you—as long-term residents and retirees, we are safely ensconced in Thailand. We watch the total disintegration of social order and safety in the US, the EU, England, and Ireland safely on our screens, sipping our drinks as birds flit past and the ocean waves lap nearby. We have to stop and appreciate how fortunate we are to live in a place so far removed from the kind of endemic conflict and random violence now characterizing much of the West.

Beyond my screen, life is as calm as the Gulf itself. A monk passes by for alms, the local noodle shop opens when it opens, and a Grab bike buzzes past. The world may be boiling, but Thailand somehow keeps its cool. This simple, profound safety is the single most compelling argument for any Westerner considering or currently enjoying retirement here.

The primary appeal—comparative safety and social harmony

While Thailand is safe compared to the US, the UK, and the EU, no country is crime-free. But the nature of crime here is fundamentally different, focusing overwhelmingly on petty theft and financial scams (beach, temple, online) rather than the random, daily violent crime that has become normalized in many Western countries.

While Thailand’s road deaths are higher than most nations, this pales in comparison to the gun violence and systemic urban issues prevalent in the US and elsewhere. But true safety isn’t just about homicide statistics; it’s about a feeling—a palpable sense of social harmony, known locally as sanuk and a culture rooted in kreng jai (deference or consideration). This cultural foundation means that public confrontations, random aggression, and overt hostility are rare.

Contrast this with the social instability back home. We are witnessing a breakdown of civil society and an uptick in shocking, senseless violence across the Atlantic. Tragedies such as the recent murder of a Ukrainian lady on a bus went viral as did the killing of an innocent bystander who was simply walking his dog in the UK, reportedly stabbed to death by an Afghan individual involved in a separate conflict, highlight how even mundane, daily activities now carry a risk of random, fatal violence in the West.

This lack of personal safety in public spaces is the exact “push factor” driving many retirees towards the tranquility of Southeast Asia. There are many other worrying examples here, here and here.

For retirees, safety is paramount. When deciding where to spend your golden years, the ability to walk home at night, the freedom to use public transport without fear, and the deeply ingrained cultural respect for elders become a currency more valuable than any exchange rate. As one expatriate summarized the feeling perfectly in the comments of a viral post: “I’m willing to pay more for my safety, stability, and peace of mind.”

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A growing number of foreigners are echoing this sentiment. The desire for a peaceful, safe existence is why videos showcasing the contrast between the chaos of Western cities and the secure, orderly atmosphere of major Thai hubs resonate so deeply within the expat community. If you need any more proof, check out this foreigner’s viewpoint that has gained traction online with more than 25,000 views in four days:

The reality check—Thailand’s uncomfortable truths

To be clear, nobody living here long-term would ever claim Thailand is a utopian paradise. We who live here understand that this land of smiles has its own unique and often infuriating set of internal problems. Any sensible person considering a move here must also weigh these disadvantages. The idea that Thailand is a “cheap” retirement destination is also now a relic of the past. The cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years. This is especially true for housing, where the rent crisis is becoming acute, particularly in the capital.

A recent report highlighted Bangkok’s soaring housing costs, pointing out that 79% of the average Thai renter’s income can go towards property expenses, leaving them with only 21% of their salary to spend on everything else. This disproportionate expense places Bangkok at the top of the global list as one of the least affordable cities for renters.

While foreign retirees with large, steady pensions can navigate this better than the local population, the high cost of food, accommodation, gas, and school fees for those with families means that prudent budgeting is essential. The economic landscape is no longer the easy, carefree environment it once was.

Bureaucracy, banking, and the digital shift

Expatriates must also grapple with a frustrating, slow-moving bureaucracy that often feels stuck in the analog past while simultaneously attempting a confusing leap into the digital future. This transition has led to real problems including arbitrary banking freezes and restrictions on foreign bank accounts which have become distressingly common. Also, the inconsistent retirement visas rules are subject to frequent, sometimes sudden, changes, creating anxiety and uncertainty for those trying to plan their lives while the government’s push for digital integration can lead to maddening delays and confusion, as new digital requirements clash with outdated, paper-based systems.

Surveillance and natural risks

Another factor is the increasing presence of state surveillance. While many Westerners accept cameras as a necessary evil, the visible proliferation of facial recognition cameras everywhere—from shopping malls to major intersections—can feel unsettling to those accustomed to more civil liberties. For some, the privacy trade-off for safety is worth it; for others, it is a significant drawback.

And, while Thailand is geologically stable compared to its neighbors, it is not immune to natural disasters. The recent earthquake sent significant tremors through parts of Thailand, reminding residents that high-rise safety is a genuine concern. Though the Thai government swiftly mobilized to conduct safety checks on vital infrastructure and reassured tourists, the event was a wake-up call that structural integrity and emergency preparedness must be taken seriously. (See my take here and why I’m selling my Bangkok properties.)

The enduring value proposition

Weighing the pros and cons is essential. On one side, you have the daily frustrations: the occasional visa drama, the high cost of a lifestyle that was once cheap, and the odd bureaucratic nightmare. On the other, you have the fundamental, priceless security of feeling safe on the streets, the warmth of a culture that respects its elders, and the assurance that your daily routine is unlikely to be shattered by the social chaos or random violence that dominates headlines back home.

The sheer difficulty of dealing with banking bureaucracy or facing high rental costs is a frustrating trade-off, but it’s a trade-off that doesn’t put your life at risk. The inconveniences of living in Thailand are speed bumps compared to the existential threats to a peaceful retirement facing the US and large parts of Europe.

Retirees flocking to Thailand should remain here if for no other reason than it offers a degree of personal, public, and social safety that has become a scarce commodity in the developed world. It’s a golden cage, perhaps, but a sanctuary nonetheless—a place where the chaos of the outside world is something you watch, not something you’re forced to live.

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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Ask anyone living in Thailand and they’ll tell you bribery and corruption are terrible things—until they quietly rely on them. Who hasn’t paid a “fee” to speed things up or avoid a fine? But what happens when that all changes? When it’s no longer possible to slip a note to a policeman or offer “tea money” at immigration? When blockchain ledgers replace brown envelopes—and there’s no longer any way but the official way?

That world isn’t far off. And whether you’re Thai or an expat, the coming digital bureaucracy may leave you longing for the old analog chaos—the very same one that’s left you scratching your head for decades.

The party at the tax Office

On a humid Friday morning, my wife and I went to the local tax office to collect a simple document confirming we’d paid all taxes on our condo—the final step before selling it. (See the full story here about our decision to get out of the Bangkok property market after more than a decade.) I expected bureaucracy. I didn’t expect a party.

Staff in matching yellow shirts laughed over lunch deliveries. Someone passed around cake. A woman scrolled through TikTok loud enough to be an announcement. The room pulsed with cheerful inefficiency—part social club, part shrine to slowness. Six guards stood chatting idly in the hallway.

My wife, who’d taken the day off work, moved from counter to counter, down to the cashier’s office, and back again. The supervisor—the only one authorized to stamp our form—was “at lunch.” It was 8:30 a.m. It could have been done online, of course. But where’s the fun in that? Bureaucratic delay, I realized, is not a flaw in the Thai system—it is the system.

The warm inefficiency of the analog world

For all its frustrations, Thailand’s bureaucracy remains profoundly human. Paper forms drift like sacred scrolls between people who’ve sat at the same desks for decades. Each document is stamped, signed, and returned with slow, graceful politeness. Nothing moves quickly, but everything moves eventually.

A smile often carries more weight than a signature. A folded envelope might slip discreetly across the counter—not a bribe, exactly, more of a lubricant. Tea money. A social tax paid in cash and courtesy. The machine keeps turning, greased by small kindnesses, mutual understanding, and the occasional crisp 100 baht note. This inefficiency isn’t accidental—it’s a pressure valve that channels frustration through empathy and ritual.

At the land office—efficiency for sale

When we went to the land office to transfer our condo title, the building could’ve been a set from a 1970s movie—flickering fluorescent lights, peeling signage, and stacks of paper files piled like bricks behind glass partitions. Queues snaked down the hallway. Agents whispered offers of “help.” For a few hundred baht, they could make our problem go away. Our agents had already paid.

The process runs on a parallel economy: pay quietly, move smoothly. It’s bribery with a smile—efficiency outsourced to the informal market. In this analog world, who you know matters more than what’s written on the form. The corruption is also the compassion—a way to make the system breathe.

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The all-seeing eye of the blockchain

Now imagine that same land transfer recorded on a blockchain ledger—no paper, no stamps, no supervisor “at lunch.” Every action time-stamped and unalterable.

That’s where Thailand is heading. The National Digital ID (NDID) system—supported by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society—is already building a unified identity platform linking banks, telecoms, and state agencies. The Digital Government Development Agency (DGA) is developing single-account access for hundreds of public services. And the Ministry of Finance’s “G-Token” project is testing blockchain-based government bonds.

Soon, your tax payments, land transfers, and immigration renewals could all live on a shared ledger. No lost receipts. No missing signatures. And crucially—no human discretion. The blockchain has no wai. It cannot accept an envelope. It records every transaction with the clinical certainty of Raymond from Rain Man and the precision of a digital autopsy.

Be careful what you wish for

It’s easy to applaud transparency. Who doesn’t want an end to corruption, endless waiting, and arbitrary power? But what comes after?

Be careful what you wish for because, when you remove corruption, you also remove flexibility—the small, quiet mercies that make a rigid system survivable. Blockchain doesn’t forgive. Once an error is entered, it’s permanent. There’s no clerk to look the other way, no sympathetic official to fix your mistake.

Civil servants will lose the “tea money” bonuses that often supplement meagre salaries. There goes the Benz. Retirees will lose the informal relationships that made immigration bearable. And ordinary Thais will lose the soft negotiations that have shaped their society for generations.

This isn’t administrative reform—it’s cultural rewiring. The new digital plumbing will be seamless but merciless. It removes friction and, with it, forgiveness.

The expat adjustment

For decades, Westerners in Thailand have learned to navigate this friction. A polite wai here, a few hundred baht there, and most problems resolved themselves—quickly, quietly, and with a blue stamp circa 1982.

But when every transaction is blockchain-verified, that workaround disappears. Miss a visa deadline? The system won’t “understand.” Submit the wrong document? There’s no clerk to pity you—just an automated rejection. The same expats who once bragged about “knowing someone at immigration” will discover that the blockchain knows everyone instead.

What was once negotiation becomes notification. The analog Thailand—flexible, forgiving, faintly absurd—will yield to one that is efficient, logical, and unyielding. Are you ready for that?

From KFC to KYC

Back at the tax office, an older clerk methodically refilled the ink pad for her rubber stamp—press, stamp, sign, repeat. The rhythm was hypnotic, a relic of another age. Outside, laminated QR codes and NDID-linked apps signal the new order. The blockchain is coming for everything—the tea money, the paper trails, even the smiles.

When Thailand finally trades KFC for KYC—from fried chicken to Know Your Customer—it won’t just digitize its bureaucracy. It will rewrite its moral code. Tea money bought speed, blockchain buys certainty. The question for Thais and foreigners alike is simple: Which one can we live without?

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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If you’ve enjoyed this read—or simply think I deserve a cup of coffee for surviving yet another tangle with Thai bureaucracy—you can now chip in without jumping through any hoops:

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Whether it’s the price of a latté or a few satoshis, your support helps keep this newsletter free and independent—and keeps me writing instead of moonlighting as a tuk-tuk driver in Silom.

“Without us, half the restaurants in this town would close, and yet they act like we don’t exist.”

It’s the kind of line you hear whispered in bars from Chiang Mai to Hua Hin—half complaint, half confession. The same refrain appears on Facebook forums, at visa offices, and in the resigned laughter of men comparing their latest bank-transfer “glitches.” For many Westerners who have lived here for decades, the feeling is the same—they give far more than they get.

And so the question returns, stubbornly simple—do long-term retirees and expats in Thailand still get a fair shake? Because if you’ve built a life here, contributed to its economy, married into its families, and learned its rhythms, at what point does guest stop being the right word—and partner start to fit better?

The unseen economy

For all the talk about tourism as Thailand’s economic heartbeat, it’s really the stay-behind foreigners who keep the economic ship steady. A single retiree spending 80,000-120,000 baht each month—rent, utilities, school fees, hospital visits, food, the gardener, and a bit for the in-laws—sustains half a dozen Thai livelihoods. Multiply that by roughly 130,000 to 187,000 long-term visa holders (retirement and marriage categories combined), and you get billions of baht circulating every month. [Source: Fulcrum.sg, “Thailand’s Long-Term Resident Visa…,” 2022]

That money doesn’t arrive through tour groups or export contracts; it flows straight into local pockets—quietly, consistently, and without fanfare. It cushions the seasonal dips that hollow out tourist towns. During COVID, Pattaya felt like that old Madness song: “This town, is coming like a ghost town.” Without foreign residents paying rent and keeping shops open, much of the coast would have gone dark.

And yet this economic lifeline remains invisible. No ministry tracks it, no party courts it, no headline thanks retirees for stabilizing the national mood. Expats appear in the news only when something goes wrong—a visa scandal, a barroom brawl, the latest viral video of a foreigner behaving badly or a social-media misstep like the Swiss guy deported for kicking someone off his land. Meanwhile, the steady inflow that keeps small communities alive remains uncounted and unthanked.

Guests without voices

Part of that invisibility is structural. Long-term foreigners are encouraged to spend freely but speak carefully. We can’t vote, can’t own land outright, and can lose residency privileges with a single policy tweak. Every 90 days, we report to immigration like hostages offering proof of life. Many have been here longer than the civil servants who process their paperwork—raising Thai children, employing Thai staff, paying Thai taxes—and still must answer the same question at every counter: How long will you stay?

It isn’t hostility so much as hierarchy. Thailand’s social contract with foreigners is clear—you bring the money, we provide the lifestyle. The exchange works beautifully—until the rules change mid-game, as they did recently with the DTV and Thai banking debacles. Then the silence hurts. No representative, no advocacy group, no seat at the table when decisions reshape the lives and savings of people who have invested decades here.

The irony is that these residents are often the most stable element of the local economy—a permanent community treated as transient. They fund the system but never get to shape it. Their loyalty is financial, yet their status remains conditional.

Cultural bridges and quiet contributions

Across Thailand, Western retirees give in quieter ways. Many teach English informally, volunteer at animal shelters, or mentor local youth. They bring management experience from global industries, help schools adopt modern problem-solving methods, and support cross-cultural families that link rural provinces to the wider world.

Walk into any provincial town and you’ll find examples. In Bangkok, the American restaurateur Greg Lange and the Dutchman Friso Poldervaart co-founded a foundation that delivered thousands of hot meals daily to locked-down migrant workers. In the capital’s Klong Toey slum, the decades-long work of American Father Joseph Maier continues to provide education and shelter to families in need.

Further north, the German Michael Andreas has dedicated himself to supporting remote villages, even building a school for underprivileged children. These gestures rarely make headlines outside of local reports, but they ripple outward—shaping local attitudes toward foreigners, opportunity, and fairness, and confirming that community service is a hallmark of the ethical expat life.

Think too of people like Vernon Unsworth, the British diver who helped rescue the 13 trapped boys from Tham Luang Cave and who still lives quietly in Chiang Mai but is currently fighting for his life in a Thai hospital. Or consider the story—half joke, half moral—of Thaksin Shinawatra teaching English in prison, a reminder that even powerful men end up trying to give something back.

Many long-term residents have lived in Thailand longer than they ever lived “back home.” Their Thai is serviceable, their grasp of the temple calendar automatic, their gossip up-to-date. When they die, they’re buried here, not repatriated. Yet their contributions remain undocumented—a kind of soft power without paperwork. They’re not shaping Thailand from the top down; they’re enriching it from the ground up before they’re buried in it. But that analog world is fading fast.

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The digital tightening

When I first arrived in 1997, Thailand felt charmingly offline. ATMs were new, 7-Elevens closed at midnight and KFC shops were everywhere—cheap chicken, bright lights, a taste of Western comfort in a land still ruled by paper forms and personal connections.

Twenty-eight years later, many of those KFC signs have been replaced by something less tasty but far more telling: KYC—Know Your Customer. The country has gone from fried chicken to facial recognition, and in the process, everyday life for foreigners has become a maze of digital compliance, cashless traps, and opaque rules that always tighten but rarely simplify.

For younger Thais, this is progress. For older expats, it’s exclusion. Foreign passports don’t link cleanly to Thai databases; bank apps fail ID checks; “security updates” freeze accounts without warning. KYC has replaced KFC—and the price isn’t cholesterol, it’s compliance.

Each new update feels like a test of loyalty: Prove again who you are. Upload again. Sign again.What used to be a culture of flexibility now feels like one of constant verification. The retirees who once poured liquidity and trust into the cash economy now find themselves mistrusted by algorithms.

These systems are marketed as modernization, but they also centralize control. When every transaction requires digital approval, privacy becomes a privilege. The shift from analog to digital isn’t just technical—it’s philosophical. In the old KFC Thailand, the question was “What would you like, sir?” In the new KYC Thailand, it’s “Who are you? Click to show you’re human.”

A fair shake or a silent deal?

So, do long-term expats get a fair shake? It depends how you define fair. Thailand still offers safety, affordability, warmth, and community. For many, that’s plenty. The trade-off is permanent outsider status—economic inclusion without political participation, never quite belonging, merely acceptance without recognition. Most but not all expats make peace with that arrangement. They tell themselves it’s the price of paradise, a small fee for freedom.

But as the country digitizes and tightens, that balance feels less like mutual benefit and more like a silent deal—one that keeps the money flowing while the voices fade.

Still, for all the bureaucracy and blind spots, Thailand remains magnetic. It’s where many found second chances, soul mates, families, and a sense of spiritual renewal. The frustration lies not in living here, but in never quite being of here.

And maybe that’s what “a fair shake” really means in this part of the world? The freedom to stay, the grace to give, and the humility to know the system may never love you back in the way you want it to? Perhaps we should heed W. H. Auden’s words, “If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me” and accept this in good Buddhist fashion?

We came for the weather, the smiles, and the sense of possibility. We stayed because it became home. But as the signs keep changing from KFC to KYC, perhaps it’s time to ask—not in anger, but in honesty—how long can we keep giving to a place that still sees us only as paying guests?

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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Remember nine months ago when nobody was really talking about digital at all and I started talking about the creeping technological systems coming to sleepy old Thailand? A country still steeped in the old-world charm of analog and paper systems? Where many government offices probably still run Windows XP?

Well, that “sleepy” Thailand is disappearing faster than most retirees imagined. From October (yes, that’s tomorrow), stricter rules for ride-hailing apps kick in—both drivers and passengers (yes, that’s you) will need to meet new identity and compliance checks, further tightening how people interact with everyday digital systems The Thaiger, Sept 29, 2025. It’s just one more step towards a Thailand where digital identity isn’t optional—it’s the gatekeeper.

This isn’t a new warning. Back in my very first Substack at the end of January 2025, I wrote:

• “Thailand is accelerating its move toward a fully digital economy, and most expats are completely unaware of this. […] While some folks still handle their transactions in cash, the Thai government and banking sector are rapidly digitizing financial systems. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), facial recognition for banking, digital IDs, QR code payments and an increasingly cashless society are no longer theoretical—they’re happening in real time. If you’re retired or living in Thailand long-term, you can’t afford to ignore this shift.” (Thailand’s Cryptocurrency Boom – A Retiree’s Guide to the New Digital Era, Jan 31, 2025, near the beginning)

And again in the next piece, I cautioned:

• “As if that wasn’t enough, after successfully testing and exiting its regulatory sandbox, the government plans to roll out a nationwide Digital ID system. Every single person in Thailand—Thais and expats alike—will eventually have their finances, tax records, and personal data linked into one centralized computer system. Doesn’t that sound nice? Like a step toward convenience?” (Thailand’s new taxes could cost you more than you think—Are you ready? The hidden costs of digital Thailand: carbon taxes, Digital IDs, and the future of expat life, Feb 25, 2025, in the middle)

Looking back now, those predictions weren’t alarmist—they were simply early. Ride-hailing regulations are a small but telling sign. Whether you’re catching a Grab, renewing a visa, or withdrawing cash, the scaffolding of a national digital identity system is being built around you.

The trouble for many expats is that they still think of Thailand as an “analog safe zone.” A place where cash is king, documents can be handled with a signature and a smile, and bureaucracy moves slowly. That comfort is evaporating faster than Thailand’s rainy-season floodwaters can drain. Each “digital update” like these ride-hailing rules shows how the Thai government is layering compliance and data-gathering into everyday life.

If you ignored these warnings back in January, the message now is even clearer—digital Thailand is arriving right on time. Will you partake? And maybe even leave a tip? 555

Back in 1982, The Clash sang the immortal lines:

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble,
And if I stay it will be double…

For many expats and retirees in Thailand, those words hit uncomfortably close to home. The “go” doesn’t necessarily mean leaving Thailand—it means moving your money out of Thai banks. The “stay” means keeping your life savings here, in a system increasingly marked by freezes, controls, and mistrust. Either way, there’s trouble.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth—if your retirement plans haven’t kept up with how fast the financial landscape is changing, you might be more exposed than you think.

Old dreams in a frozen reality

Boomers who planned their retirement in Thailand decades ago imagined a cash-friendly, low-cost country where banks were a convenience, not a risk factor. The reality of 2025 is starkly different.

Thai banks have been hit by scandals e.g. Baht surge linked to $500bn money laundering, sudden freezes, digital glitches, and a growing reputation for being unpredictable. Foreign retirees report accounts being locked without warning. Small businesses struggle to access funds to stay afloat. Thai households themselves are drowning in debt.

As expat YouTuber Naked Guru put it, “Certain policy changes or issues with banking…become a problem.” It’s not just retirees. Many Thais, heavily dependent on cash for their market stalls, are pulling money out—sometimes thousands at a time. One family even withdrew 10 million baht and stored it at home, only to have it stolen. Mistrust runs from top to bottom.

Thai banking on shaky ground

Thailand has one of the highest household debt ratios in Asia, with borrowing equal to more than 90% of GDP. That leaves banks jittery and customers perpetually exposed.

Foreigners see it first hand—sudden rule changes, new document demands, and frozen transfers while “compliance checks” drag on. Expats with pensions or payrolls tied to Thai banks are often left dangling—along with their families and employees.

Naked Guru summed it up, “Getting frozen accounts in Thailand, both expats and locals…for me is a warning bell.” He adds, “I’m repatriating money out of the country back to my UK account because I simply don’t trust Thai banks,” noting that Thai vendors he deals with daily are doing the same—keeping cash under the mattress because they don’t trust the system, either.

Broken—or broken on purpose?

Some problems persist because they’re unsolvable. Others persist because they’re profitable. We saw this in Thailand’s “flood economy”, where yearly floods fuel endless emergency contracts and photo ops. Could the same be true for banking?

What if the mistrust itself is by design? What if the government is deliberately nudging people away from cash—towards crypto, towards blockchain—by letting confidence in traditional banks collapse?

Globally, the timing is uncanny. The European Union will roll out its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in October, and the UK is pushing digital ID laws where you won’t be allowed to work there without one. Thailand has been testing blockchain-based systems for years. The less you trust banks, the easier it is to push you into a digital, trackable economy.

The Vietnam test case

This isn’t speculation—it’s happening in the region. As Redacted News reported, “Vietnam freezes 86 million bank accounts…because they want to move Vietnam to a mandatory biometric ID system. They would freeze these accounts as sort of a model, a trial run for a centralised digital control.”

That’s not inconvenience—it’s coercion. People were locked out of their savings until they submitted to biometric enrollment. The message was clear—comply or lose access to your money. Is Thailand next?

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Palantir and the techno-feudal prison

This global shift doesn’t happen in isolation. Someone has to build the infrastructure. Enter Palantir and its peers. As Redacted explained, “…you’re just seeing the proliferation of surveillance everywhere…whether it’s by a private entity that has a strong public relationship like Palantir…someone has to run the database…Palantir has really stepped up to be right there, ready, willing and able.”

Combine digital IDs, CBDCs and biometric databases, and you don’t just get a modern banking system—you get what Redacted called, “…quite a biometric panopticon.” In other words—a techno-feudal prison where every transaction, every withdrawal, every purchase is recorded, monitored, and, if necessary, controlled as I said it would in my very first Substack newsletter nine months ago.

And it may go further. According to Nick Fuentes, Palantir—alongside other ex–PayPal mafia members—has allegedly tried to blackmail Donald Trump. If true, it shows Palantir isn’t just about data collection—it’s about raw leverage. If they can pressure a sitting president, what chance do ordinary citizens or expats have?

The expat’s dilemma

So here we are—stuck in The Clash song of yesteryear. If you stay (keep your money in Thai banks), it’s convenient for daily life, with easy access for bills and emergencies, but you risk sudden freezes, government overreach and a lack of legal recourse if something goes wrong.

If you go (move money abroad), you gain security and predictability in more stable jurisdictions like the UK, Singapore, or offshore accounts, but you lose liquidity in Thailand, face currency conversion and ATM fees, and you may find yourself stranded if transfers back take too long. As The Clash warned: “If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double.”

Trust, identity, and the “Groundhog Day” effect

Money isn’t just financial—it’s emotional. When you don’t trust the system where you live, every trip to the ATM or online banking app becomes an act of doubt. Naked Guru has observed that many expats already face what he calls the “novelty wearing off” moment. Thailand is thrilling at first—cheap meals, tropical weather, friendly faces—but over time, identity and purpose erode. He explains, “Thailand is not doing itself any favours… especially with expats and people that want to come and live here.”

Now add financial insecurity to that. Retirement isn’t meant to feel like a Groundhog Day of uncertainty. Yet many Boomers find themselves living exactly that—unsure not only of who they are in a foreign land (earlier newsletter), but whether their money is safe enough to support the life they’ve built. As Naked Guru warned, “If your assets can just be frozen at the whim of the bank, are they actually your assets?”

And this is the crux—if you don’t update your retirement plans for today’s risks, you may wake up one day to find you’re trapped in yesterday’s assumptions.

Government inaction, political stasis

Can the new government fix this? Unlikely. Thailand’s current coalition is led by Anutin of “smelly farangs” fame along with seasoned, old-guard politicians with little appetite for reform. Thus, I doubt much is going to change given the old dinosaurs back in the Thai government and the shortage of time. Banks, like floods, may simply remain “broken by design”—a crisis to be managed seasonally, rather than solved structurally.

What should expats do?

This isn’t financial advice, but common sense:

• Diversify: Don’t keep all your funds in Thai banks

• Keep liquidity: Enough daily-access cash for emergencies

• Use stable jurisdictions: UK, Singapore, or established offshore centers for long-term holdings

• Hedge assets: Gold, cryptocurrencies, or property can offer partial protection

• Stay alert: Watch for new regulations on crypto, digital IDs, and bank transfers

Final thoughts

For many expats, Thailand once promised paradise, but paradise with shaky banks is paradise at risk. The Clash’s question echoes louder than ever—Should I stay or should I go now? Maybe you’ll stay in Thailand for the lifestyle but move your money elsewhere for safety. Or maybe you’ll ride the wave and trust the system despite its cracks. Either way, the choice is yours, but ignoring the question isn’t an option anymore.

Whatever you do, take note of the guy who lassoed an ATM to drag back to his man cave. Don’t be that Dutch guy as you won’t have a choice about whether you’re staying or going—you’ll definitely be staying for a very long time courtesy of Bang Kwang jail.

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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Every rainy season in Thailand, the same torrential scenes repeat—flooded sois, ruined crops, small businesses washed away, and families forced to start over. Yet successive Thai governments always seem to find the money for digital currencies, high-speed trains to China, or even casinos on the border. It’s almost like there’s an invisible money tree. So why—after decades of “development”—can’t they solve something as basic as drainage?

This year has been no different. Sukhumvit Road turned into a canal. The brand-new BTS extension along Srinagarindra stood ankle-deep in water within weeks of opening. Down in Rayong, flash floods wiped out 50,000 chickens on a single farm—an immediate loss of eight to ten million baht, according to the Bangkok Post. Multiply that by thousands of farms, small shops, and homes across the country, and you begin to see the staggering economic damage.

A pattern older than the skyline

Flooding in Bangkok is nothing new. In fact, I was writing about it back in 2011. In Watching the Thais (2nd edition, p.125), I reprinted one of my old Ajarn.com blog posts about Thai water culture, floods, and politics.

I went on to say, “…a world where Thais have no choice but to wade waist deep in the thick browny liquid until sufficient supplications have been made at various temples…better to put your faith in the gods, or Buddha, or an amulet than rely on your leaders. After all, as the British like to joke - "The Romans, what have they ever done for us?" The same question could be asked by Thais - ‘Thai politicians, what have they ever done for us?’”

Fourteen years on, the situation hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s worse. Just like traffic, pollution, and prostitution, flooding isn’t treated as a national emergency. It’s treated like a seasonal nuisance like the flu or dengue, but where money flows.

Why is it always like this?

There are practical answers, of course. Bangkok was built on a swamp, and the Chao Phraya River regularly spills its banks. Drainage canals (klongs) that once absorbed monsoon rains have been paved over by shopping malls and condo towers. And everyone knows how easily corruption bleeds away infrastructure budgets.

But there’s a deeper, more unpalatable truth—sometimes problems are never solved because they’re more profitable when broken. Flooding, like traffic and pollution, sustains entire ecosystems of contracts, clean-up operations, “emergency” funding, and political patronage. Every crisis creates opportunities—for funding, for contracts, for votes. The old “you scratch my back” brigade keeps the money flowing—usually into their own pockets.

Drains vs. trains

Think about it. Each year, officials declare disaster zones, release emergency funds, and hire contractors to dredge klongs or patch up roads. The money flows, but the problem never goes away. Meanwhile, big-ticket infrastructure projects get the political spotlight—airports, high-speed trains, mega-casinos. These are visible. They can be photographed, ribbon-cut, and campaigned upon.

But drains? Na, they’re invisible. No politician boasts about a sewer system. Nobody cuts a ribbon for a culvert. By the time the benefits show, the politician has moved on. And so the cycle continues…

Other cities, same storms—different outcomes

Bangkok is often ranked among the world’s most flood-prone cities, but the comparison with other Southeast Asian capitals is telling. Jakarta still floods annually, displacing tens of thousands, but Indonesia has gone as far as relocating ministries to a new capital and pouring resources into coastal defenses. Manila faces perennial flooding, yet Metro Manila has a multi-billion-dollar management plan co-financed with the World Bank.

Kuala Lumpur built the SMART Tunnel, a motorway that doubles as a storm drain, diverting floodwater away from the city center. Singapore, meanwhile, has invested billions in deep drainage tunnels and real-time monitoring systems, making large-scale flooding increasingly rare.

And Bangkok? Still running billion-baht skytrains on Sukhumvit and Srinagarindra—while beneath them lie the same patchwork of half-dug drains and clogged klongs. On what planet does that make sense?

25 years later, still underwater

I remember teaching in Siam Square in the late 1990s. Heavy rain would flood the streets knee-deep. Students would wade barefoot into class, shoes held over their heads. At the time, I assumed it was a temporary problem—a “developing country” issue that would surely be solved as Thailand modernised. I was wrong.

Fast forward 25 years. Sukhumvit Road—the showcase boulevard of Thailand—still floods like a village track. Billions of baht have been spent on gleaming trains, airports, and digital banking systems. But the simple question—where will the water go?—never seems to be asked. The result? Glossy infrastructure above ground, chaos beneath it as vendors watch stock float down the soi.

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The cost of doing nothing

Flooding costs Thailand billions every year. Not just in ruined crops or drowned livestock, but in damaged homes, destroyed roads, lost school days, and shuttered businesses. The catastrophic 2011 flood alone cost more than $45 billion, according to the World Bank. And yet, in 2025, many families are still bailing water from their living rooms with buckets. It makes you wonder—what is the function of government if not to solve precisely these kinds of national problems?

The cultural shrug

Some Thais simply shrug: “This is Bangkok.” Floods are treated as part of the city’s identity, not as failures of planning. Older Boomers may even remember the raised wooden walkways of the 70s and 80s, when locals adapted rather than complained. But adaptation is not the same as progress.

Thailand has invested in the wrong kind of infrastructure for the wrong reasons. Showy projects attract tourists, win votes, and line pockets. Storm drains only prevent chaos, and maybe that’s just not sexy, glamorous or profitable enough.

What’s being lost

Every flood sweeps away more than property. Small businesses shut down. Families lose not just possessions but patience. Expats and retirees wonder what kind of “paradise” they’ve moved to. For many Boomers, Thailand once promised the “easy like Sunday morning” dream, but the reality means wading through knee-deep water to buy groceries or watching your soi transform into a canal. Not quite the retirement brochure.

Broken on purpose?

This is the uncomfortable truth: flooding doesn’t persist because it’s unsolvable. It persists because it’s useful. Floods generate photo ops—officials in khaki uniforms wading in water, handing out relief bags, promising solutions. They create a stream of contracts, budgets, and opportunities. Then the rain stops, the cameras leave, and nothing changes until the next monsoon. As long as the public accepts flooding as “normal,” there’s little incentive to change.

What can be done?

The solutions aren’t rocket science. They require priorities, not miracles:

• Invest in modern drainage—learn from Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Singapore.

• Treat water management as seriously as transport. The two are connected

• Plan your housing carefully. Avoid flood-prone areas.

• Prepare for emergencies—sandbags, pumps, candles and supplies

• Keep a financial Plan B. Flood losses are rarely compensated

Floods may be natural, but the failure to manage them is not. It’s political, cultural, and economic.

Why Boomers should care

For retirees and long-term expats, this isn’t abstract policy. It’s daily life. Flooding means you can’t reach the hospital, the power cuts out, food prices spike, and insurance claims drag, or don’t pay out at all. Many of us came here for the sunshine, the smiles, the rhythm of Thai life, but paradise on paper can be precarious in practice.

Until Thailand learns that drains are more important than trains, flooding will remain the country’s most predictable “surprise” and, unless the balance shifts, we’ll all be meeting again next rainy season—same time, same place, same floods—and you won’t even have to mark it in your calendar.

About me: I have written about Thai issues for many years, for media outlets like: Al Jazeera (Qatar), The Bangkok post (Thailand), The English Language Gazette (UK), the Nikkei Asian Review (Tokyo), The Guardian (UK), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and jobs.ac.uk (UK).

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If you’ve enjoyed this read—or simply think I deserve a cup of coffee for surviving yet another tangle with Thai bureaucracy—you can now chip in without jumping through any hoops:

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Whether it’s the price of a latté or a few satoshis, your support helps keep this newsletter free and independent—and keeps me writing instead of moonlighting as a tuk-tuk driver in Silom.

I’ve said the digital IDs are eventually coming to Thailand, but they’re also about to be rolled out in the UK as well. Initially, they will be optional but it won’t be long before they’re mandatory. It’s the same old scenario—Problem, Reaction, Solution.

The problem was they opened the gates to let every Tom, Dick and Harry into the country. And every Khalid, Omar & Abdullah arrived every day for years on boats unopposed. Now, right on time, the UK government says it needs to document them all to separate them and identify them from genuine British citizens, as if they even really care about the distinction? A problem created for a ready-made solution—digital IDs. https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/12/privacy_activists_warn_uk_digital_id_risks/#:~:text=It%20argues%20that%20ministers%20have,right%2Dto%2Drent%20checks%20to

There are two obvious takeaways from this article with regards to Thai banking and the freezing of accounts.

The first is it’s something that should scare everybody that the police or whoever the authorities were, authorised the bank to take specified amounts from people’s accounts, sometimes leading to a negative balance where the amount sequestered was above the account balance.

No judge, not even a charge to defend? That account holder’s money was just taken without their consent? So, if they’re already prepared to do this now, imagine what it will be like when they introduce Central Bank Digital Currencies? When the government is literally issuing the money itself? A little bit Geo fenced as well? So it can only be spent in a certain area e.g. your own neighbourhood and after a certain date it expires etc etc.?

The second thing to notice is that they said not that they’re going to stop it, but they’re going to make the procedure better, only improve it. I would suggest therefore that you think about how much money you keep in a Thai bank now because this is obviously going to become standard practice where you can simply be accused of some kind of scam quite arbitrarily and then money disappears from your account—a procedure that’s been fully endorsed by the Bank of Thailand, it seems.

As all those on a retirement, 1-year Ext. of Stay who need to season 800K THB but also maintain a 400K THB balance throughout the year, you might want to have a backup plan in case your funds become involved in something deemed by the powers-that-be to be a scam. I mean keep emergency funds somewhere offshore or in another asset e.g. gold, cryptos etc. That way you won’t get caught out.

I have to start seasoning my own money soon for the annual Extension of Stay so this is not good news for me, either.