Thailand's Tourist DigiPay Sandbox Gets a Live Stablecoin App

A digital wallet app called WORPT has launched in Thailand under the Tourist DigiPay regulatory sandbox, letting foreign visitors convert USDT and USDC into baht and pay local merchants through the country's PromptPay QR network. Merchants receive baht through standard payment systems, not crypto.

WORPT was built by Waan Exchange, a digital asset exchange approved by Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission, and Wipay, an e-money provider regulated by the Bank of Thailand. A physical Visa prepaid card is planned for mid-November and a virtual card for early 2027, which would let users spend the same baht balance in shops and online.

The announcement does not give user numbers, conversion limits, fees or the merchants where it works. The sandbox rules still apply, so the app operates inside the limits the regulators set for the pilot.

The design follows the logic Blockhead described in August, when Thailand's zero-tax crypto exemption was read as a capital control. That piece noted that the Bank of Thailand's ban on crypto as a means of payment for goods and services remains, and that the tourist scheme works around the ban by converting crypto into baht before it reaches a merchant. Thailand's stated aim is to treat crypto as a supervised investment asset and to channel tourist use through licensed intermediaries.