Thailand’s Public Debt Management Office intends to conduct a small savings bond issue of 200 million baht ($6.43 million) as a trial of blockchain-based savings bonds, the Bangkok Post reported. Usually, the minimum bond face value is 1,000 baht, but with the blockchain bonds, it will be 1 baht, with a minimum initial subscription of 100 baht.
The issue will use state-owned Krungthai Bank’s (KTB) e-wallet. Eventually, it will add additional distribution channels, including bank branches, ATMs and mobile banking.
The ability to issue and trade securities in smaller amounts is a common tokenization benefit because of the lower costs of distribution. Physical documents also make lower denominations inconvenient.
Nine months ago, the Thailand Bond Market Association announced it would adopt blockchain for bond registration with additional projects on the cards. Since then, Toyota Leasing in Thailand issued a blockchain bond. And the stock exchange also plans to launch a blockchain-based digital asset platform.
Elsewhere in finance, 22 banks came together for a blockchain Letters of Guarantee group for trade finance.
The country is also very active in using blockchain to combat VAT fraud, which it started exploring two years ago. More recently, it honed in on significant risk areas such as tax refunds for oil exporters.
And there are several trade oriented blockchain projects being explored, including with NTT, OneConnect, and TradeLens.
