Report contents
APAC · Emerging
Thailand
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 57 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +3 |
| Inflation 2.9% · unbanked 8% · remittances 1.8% GDP · capital controls 0.58 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.159 |
| Need multiplier | ×0.738 |
| Livability score | 0.501 |
Raw 57/84 = 0.679 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.16, from five components: inflation 2.9% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 8% of adults, remittances 1.8% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.58 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.74. Livability score 0.501, rank #24 of 79.
Three findings
A 0% capital-gains shield codified into law, and one of the index's best rulebooks
Thailand's 16/20 regulation score ties Switzerland, the UAE, Georgia and Malaysia, anchored by a Royal Gazette regulation granting a full personal income-tax exemption on crypto gains via SEC-licensed platforms from 2025 through 2029. The framework also positively classifies crypto salary as employment income, a level of clarity few markets reach.
The most explicit retail payment ban in the region
Operators are prohibited from offering crypto as payment for goods and services, so merchant acceptance scores 1 and utility-bill payment 0. Even the 2025 TouristDigiPay sandbox is a conversion-only mechanism, crypto to baht to QR, with merchants always receiving baht; it is not direct acceptance.
Need lifts Thailand 11 places into the global top 24
Inflation is modest and unbanked share is only 8%, but remittances at 1.8% of GDP and a P2P bonus of 3/4 reflect real grassroots usage among more than 11 million holders, with the PromptPay network easing fiat-to-crypto onboarding. The applied-need adjustment turns a mid-pack capability into a top-quarter rank.
In one line
"Thailand gave crypto a zero-tax window through 2029 and one of the clearest rulebooks in Asia, then drew a hard line at the cash register. You can hold it freely; you simply cannot spend it directly."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 3/4, trending liberalising. The five-year capital-gains exemption began January 2025, the SEC approved USDC and USDT in March 2025, and the TouristDigiPay sandbox launched mid-2025, but the regulator simultaneously tightened AML, introduced extraterritorial licensing, blocked unlicensed foreign platforms and froze tens of thousands of mule accounts. The net direction is liberalising with a structuring overlay; the 2026 move toward zero-threshold data transmission could push KYC friction higher.