Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing developments in the crypto space, and they are many here in Thailand. And I do have to say, as with many of these things that are occurring now in Thailand, I'm starting to feel my age a little bit. I'm kind of right in the middle of middle age, and there are certain things that I understand less about and crypto is one of them. That said I find it intriguing across the board - the many applications of it - ever since Bitcoin first hit the stage that was sort of when it came to my attention. I know there were sort of proto-Bitcoins before that. I actually remember being really into concept of the Wow Gold, if you go really far back there was the World of Warcraft Gold; I don't know if people remember that, but you could mine it, they were like people that would mine it in all these places. That said, we have come a long way in about 15 years and we are in a very different place now which brings me to this article that got me to thinking of making this video.

The article is titled: Binance trumpets baht-backed stablecoins, Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com. Quoting directly: "The Phuket crypto sandbox, which is expected to be launched this October, would allow foreign tourists to use crypto to purchase goods and services there." Now those who are watching my videos, especially those who have watched my videos where I get very angry about digital wallets, digital currency, digital money, that's talking about the digitization of our currency here in Thailand: the Baht. I think I'm a very little "c" conservative in a non-partisan, non-political way, monetary way. I want to stick with the monetary system that is proven, has a track record; I like the privacy of cash sometimes, I want to maintain that. Now that said, that doesn't mean I'm a Luddite. I'm not unaware of technology, I'm not unaware of the benefits that can be derived therefrom, and I do get that many of these new cryptos - Bitcoin being one, I know Ethereum, Ripple, all of this stuff - there's a lot of really cool stuff going on with respect to this. I don't want people to think that I'm completely anti-crypto, I just want people to sort of keep Central Bank Fiat in its compartment if you will, crypto in its compartment if you will, metals in their compartment if you will, and just sort of see them all for what they are rather than conflating them. I have found especially the nearly decade now that I've been, sort of if you will in the slipstream of the news cycle, and I've noticed that one thing that occurs a lot is one of the media's most powerful tools is obviously omission, but -another big one is conflation - conflating two different things - and one thing that happened a lot in the major push within this last year or so, year and a half in terms of this digital wallet, digital money, totalitarian tracking and tracing; money we can turn off and on which therefore that's not money those are chits at best, or strip or something. That said, that's a very different thing than what we are talking about in the private crypto world. And for those who are sort of unaware of what I think, kind of like you seem very scatterbrained on this, I'm actually not. I have sort of a unified field theory of all of this, even though crypto itself, I don't love any investment context a lot of folks do, I think it's great as a medium of exchange, it has many use cases in many different parts of the economy, but in the same way that I think of money like I think of cash, I do not think of crypto that way. As I have discussed in other videos, well actually off of this channel because it's quite blue, but I have my notion of the Chappelle axiom - I urge you to go search YouTube if you want to get into that - where I am talking about that. I think it's on Bangkok Bros somewhere where I am talking about that with Andrew. But setting that aside, it's to my mind again I like cash, I like the ability to use cash, I would like to see high denomination sovereign debt, bearer paper, sovereign debt return, Bearer Bonds. I'd like to see some of that again because frankly, there's nothing wrong with wanting privacy in your financial transactions; there's nothing inherently wrong with that. We've been indoctrinated and frankly I think a lot of indoctrination, especially in the past quarter century, is starting to be definitely hacked away, but we've been heavily indoctrinated in this whole "know your customer", KYC da, da, da. Look, I'm an Attorney. I need to know certain facts about my clients but this whole like, you need to know everything or it's on you or something, no, I don't stipulate to that. I think a lot of this KYC nonsense or at least maybe I'm a little bit naïvely hopeful, that it's going to get rolled back under Mr. Trump, but I like what he's doing so far and maybe he can make bearer bonds great again over the course of this next Administration. 

That being said, back to what we are primarily talking about here, at the end of the day Thailand remains sort of silent on the issue of cryptocurrency generally and I think that's actually a good thing. Sometimes no news is good news; sometimes it's good to be in a space that it's not defined. Why does everything need to be defined? That's another sort of, it's almost sort of a presumptive con if you will. "Oh well you have to define it!" Well why do you need to do that? You're only setting your own parameters sometimes. Why not just let things work out naturally in space? That said, quoting directly: "Phuket crypto sandbox, which is expected me launched this October, would allow foreign tourists to use crypto to purchase goods and services there." So in Phuket to begin with. So we now sort of see the legacy of what we were calling Devil's Island during the COVID debacle is now moving into this sort of crypto space and again very different from digital money - I didn't mean to get off on a rant back there - but there is a difference between the private world and again my unified field theory is sort of, there's a book out called Monetary Mercantilism probably best sort of sums up how I'm kind of thinking about some of these things by a lady named Kathleen Tyson, that provides some insight. A book called Merchant Kings if you go back, there's also if you look at the era of trade in East and Southeast Asia up until really World War 2, I think we're reverting to that and I think crypto has a part to play in that in much the same way that Bills of Exchange and true banknotes back in the day when Private Commercial Banks issued true banknotes, I think that kind of environment is what we're going to see return, Crypto has a part to play in that. Exactly what that looks like remains to be seen but I don't get particularly gaga over crypto the way others maybe do because I just sort of view it as the current analog if you will, no pun intended, when talking about a digital medium here but it's the sort of current analog to those old banknotes and banking instruments that were utilized back during the sort of the "great game" era of Western trade out here in East Asia. I think that's what we're kind of reverting to effectively especially in the days following Mr. Trump's announcement regarding this tariff scheme we're now moving into and the External Revenue Service, I definitely think yeah this is where we are moving and the rejection of the OECD, do not forget that. Tip of that you Mr. President, thank you very much for that one. 

So that said, quoting further: "By increasing the purchasing power of digital nomads, the initiative would present Thailand as progressive in adopting financial innovations, said Mr. Nirun. The Bank of Thailand remains mum on using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, citing concerns about the possible impact on the Baht and risks to financial stability." So they are not coming out and saying that they are going to necessarily sign off on this being a medium of payment throughout the country. This is kind of a beta test, quite frankly, let's be very clear, emphasis on test. This may not come to fruition. Frankly I think the systems we have are not that bad - Promptpay with the standard Baht - I don't see what the problem is. That said, okay, there are other applications. I do understand that for these payment platforms and things especially in light of the rise of mBridge and how that's going to play through all this stuff. So I get it, that they do want to test, but I think the point needs to be made to keep expectations in line with reality for the viewers of these videos, that again it's a test. This may not come to fruition, but it might too. Quoting further: "Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said recently the Government intends to tokenise Government Bonds, converting them into a digital asset as a stablecoin."

So one, Finance Ministry has said a lot of things lately, especially in the last 6 months. Okay, again I think maybe have a look at bearer bonds. Why isn't anybody looking backward at bearer bonds? We had a very stable monetary system, stable economic system, all throughout the '80s and into the '90s, mid '90s especially into the late '90s, and bearer bonds were available. I mean they were kind of a cliché trope of a villain in an '80s or '90 movie, but they did have use and I don't see where crypto is at least the fundamental guiding principle behind it is any different really. Privacy in financial transactions is really what you're looking for. That being said, again they are probably not asking my opinion on such matters at least for now. That being said, this is a major development, and we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.