The BOT recommends issuing G-Token for investment, not money creation. It should be considered a government loan similar to bonds.

The BOT sent 5 opinions on G-Token, emphasizing that it is for saving and investment, not for creating money. It should not be used for payment. It should be considered a government loan like issuing bonds. It is recommended that it should be done on a trial basis for safety.

ธนาคาร แห่ งประเทศไทย The Bank of Thailand has submitted its opinion on the request for approval of the method of borrowing money under the Public Debt Management Act in the form of issuing government digital tokens on April 3, 68, signed by Dr. Setthaput Suthiwatnarueput Governor of the Bank of Thailand Which has the following gist:

According to the Office of the Cabinet Secretariat dated March 11, 2568, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to the Cabinet to consider approving the method of borrowing money under the Public Debt Management Act by raising funds in the form of issuing government digital tokens (Government Token: G-Token) to develop the public debt management mechanism to be more efficient and the government can access more diverse sources of funds, as well as to promote savings of the public sector. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) is requested to provide opinions on the relevant matters for the Cabinet's consideration. The details have been announced.

The BOT would like to inform that issuing digital tokens is one of the fundraising methods that the government may consider applying to help increase transaction efficiency, make it convenient, fast, and have lower costs, as well as being an investment and savings option for the public.

The issuance of G-Token is comparable to the issuance of government bonds, which are financial instruments that are very important to the economic system. Therefore, the issuance of G-Token must have an efficient and safe system and process, in accordance with the relevant legal frameworks, including protection for investors, equivalent to the current government bonds, which must have at least 5 elements in the operation as follows:

1. The systems and processes related to G-Token must be efficient and secure. The system that supports the service must be stable, secure and safe, with standards comparable to current government bonds, covering everything from offering, transaction verification, holder registry management, storage and deposit, and redemption. In addition, various service providers who will join the government in managing digital tokens must be reliable, experienced and have expertise, so as not to cause problems that directly affect the public. For example, if there is an emergency that prevents the withdrawal of digital tokens as money, the service provider must be able to resolve the problem promptly, so as not to affect the issuance of government bonds and the government's fundraising on a large scale.

2. The issuance of G-Token must be under an appropriate legal framework. G-Token is intended for fundraising and savings, with characteristics and substance equivalent to other government debt instruments, in which the holder has the right to receive repayment of principal and interest from the government, which is subject to the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535. In addition, G-Token has a different purpose from digital tokens that provide the right to receive specific goods, services, or other rights (Utility Token), such as digital gift vouchers, under the Digital Asset Business Act B.E. 2561. Therefore, the issuance of G-Token should be under an appropriate legal framework that is consistent with the objectives, in order to avoid problems of uncertainty in the legal status that may arise in the future, which may affect public confidence. Currently, the government is in the process of amending the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 to support the issuance and supervision of securities issued by electronic means, which should be a legal framework that is more appropriate for the issuance of G-Token.

3. Fundraising with G-Token must be in accordance with the fiscal discipline framework. Similar to government borrowing through the issuance of government bonds It must be counted as a loan under the credit limit.To compensate for the annual budget deficit and public debt management plan under the Public Debt Management Act

4. G-Token management must not involve any steps that create money. This would violate the Currency Act of 2501, which prohibits anyone from creating objects or symbols instead of currency. For example, if there is a G-Token return, regardless of the form of any digital token, the government must prepare the full amount (Fully Backed) to support it. For example, in the case of the Hong Kong government that issued environmental bonds in the form of digital tokens (Tokenized Green Bond), it has prepared the full amount to support the interest payment to the holders.

5. The issuance of G-Token must be for the purpose of raising funds and saving of the public only. G-Token must not be used as a medium of payment (Means of Payment: MOP). There must be a monitoring mechanism to prevent it from being used for the wrong purposes.

From the above, the BOT is of the opinion that the government's fundraising by issuing G-Token should be a limited pilot project first in order to test and ensure that the use of new technology in the system and process related to government fundraising, starting from the issuance of offerings until the end of redemption, is efficient and safe, including comprehensive risk assessment and tight risk mitigation before the government uses it to raise funds from retail customers on a large scale. Currently, only a few countries have issued

Digital tokens for government fundraising and most of them are only done at the Pilot Project level. In the past, the BOT has brought new technologies to support innovation in the financial sector as well, such as the International Payment System Development Project (mBridge Project), which the BOT has implemented step by step, starting from studying the feasibility in terms of concept (Proof-of-Concept) before expanding to testing at the Pilot Project level and then using the results from the testing to improve and modify the system so that it can be used effectively in practice.

In addition, while the government is conducting the pilot project, people can still invest and save through existing government bonds, such as the digital savings bonds “Wallet, Accumulate Wealthy Bonds”, which people can conveniently buy and sell bonds through a mobile application.

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