Thailand’s government has ordered a broad crackdown on so-called grey money, pushing regulators to tighten oversight of gold trading and digital assets and link financial data across agencies to make money laundering harder to hide.
Officials use the term grey money for funds that move through legal-looking channels but often trace back to criminal syndicates, tax evasion, or other illicit activity, especially when traders exploit gaps between old rules for physical assets and newer platforms for digital transactions, a local outlet reported.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul laid out the push after chairing a high-level session at the Finance Ministry on Friday, with Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas and other agencies tasked to close loopholes in gold trades without physical delivery and in digital asset flows.
AML Rules Tighten For Physical Gold Purchases
A central part of the plan is a Data Bureau, a shared system that links datasets from relevant agencies via Open API to give authorities a single view of suspicious activity across gold, digital assets, e-wallets, foreign exchange and cash, without creating a new standalone agency.
On the gold side, anti-money laundering authorities have been told to cut the mandatory reporting threshold for gold bar purchases from the current 2M baht level to a significantly lower figure, aiming to reduce “smurfing,” where large sums get split into smaller transactions to dodge detection.
Regulators also want to bring online gold trading under tighter supervision. The Revenue Department is studying a new specific business tax for platforms that facilitate gold trades without physical delivery, and the government wants stricter accounting, special accounts for providers, and reporting that allows state audits.
Thailand Aims To Seal Loopholes Between Gold, Cash And Crypto
That gold focus also ties into the currency story. Officials have linked unusually large gold-related flows to the baht’s strength, and Reuters has reported the finance ministry is exploring a tax and possible trading caps after the baht gained about 10.3% in 2025, raising pressure on exporters and tourism-linked businesses.
For crypto, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been ordered to strictly enforce the Travel Rule, requiring digital asset providers to identify both the sender and receiver in wallet to wallet transfers, tightening the net around flows that previously relied on anonymity.
Anutin framed the push as an update to enforcement that covers old and new channels at the same time.
“Today, we are not only addressing modern digital threats but also ‘analogue’ financial crimes,” he said, adding, “We must work as a single, integrated force to protect the public interest and the integrity of our financial system.”
For exchanges, brokers and other service providers, the shift means heavier compliance expectations, more identity checks, and tighter reporting on transfers that touch regulated platforms, as Thailand tries to make it harder for illicit funds to jump between gold, cash and crypto without leaving a trail.
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