Thailand plans to issue a THB 5 billion ($149 million) tokenized bond by the third quarter of this year, targeting retail investors.
Thai Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira recently announced the new program, revealing that the bond will be issued on a new digital bonds issuance platform. While the minister didn’t explicitly confirm it, experts say he was most likely referring to the distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based digital token trading platform the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced earlier this month.
The upcoming digital bond will be open to retail investors and require no collateral, with the minimum investment set at THB 1,000 ($30).
The bond will serve as a sandbox project for the government, and if it’s a success, it will allow Thailand to raise more funds from investors through DLT bonds in the future. The Southeast Asian nation unveiled a THB 3.78 trillion ($112 billion) budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year, with a $25.5 billion deficit, which the government is plugging by raising funds from the domestic market and through external borrowing. Digital bonds allow the government to bypass traditional intermediaries like banks and brokers, making raising money easier, cost-effective, and more efficient.
“We will enable retail investors to participate, regardless of their financial standing,” the minister explained, as reported by local newspaper The Nation.
“They can invest any amount, buying and selling directly on the platform, bypassing traditional bank counters. Numerous platforms are available, and with private sector involvement, we anticipate lower management costs, enabling investments from as little as 1,000 baht.”
Digital bonds are taking off globally, with Asia taking an early lead ahead of Europe. According to one January report, these tokenized bonds will be a $1 trillion market by 2028. Governments like Thailand’s, which are already experimenting with the technology, will be better suited to capitalize on this rise in the next few years, setting the pace globally and raking in billions of dollars in foreign portfolio investment.
For now, the government awaits the approval of the Bank of Thailand (BOT) before proceeding with the digital bonds project. Chunhavajira revealed that his ministry submitted the bond’s “procedures and trading mechanisms” for the bank’s green light.
According to rwa.xyz, $17.7 billion worth of real-world assets have been tokenized, with private credit accounting for two-thirds of the assets.
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