Thailand’s government has launched a comprehensive campaign to crack down on so-called “gray money” exploited through gold trading and cryptocurrency transactions, as authorities move to strengthen financial oversight and protect the integrity of the national economy.

The initiative, ordered by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, brings physical gold markets and digital assets under unified regulatory scrutiny to close longstanding money-laundering loopholes and reduce exploitative avenues for illicit capital.

At a high-level meeting of the government’s “Connect the Dots” sub-committee, senior officials announced plans to lower mandatory reporting thresholds for physical gold purchases, impose new reporting and tax requirements on online gold trading platforms, and enforce stringent controls on digital asset transfers under the international Travel Rule.

The Anti-Money Laundering Office has been instructed to collect broader data on gold transactions, addressing concerns that criminal networks have been splitting large purchases into smaller amounts to evade detection.

The government’s strategy also calls for the establishment of a national Data Bureau to integrate real-time financial data across banking, gold, and digital asset sectors, enabling authorities to detect suspicious activity and create detailed risk profiles.

Under the new regime, digital asset service providers will be required to collect and transmit identifying information for both senders and recipients of certain wallet-to-wallet transactions, aligning Thailand’s framework with global anti-money-laundering standards.

Prime Minister Anutin emphasized that the crackdown extends beyond modern digital threats to include traditional financial crimes that have long been used to conceal illicit flows.

By integrating gold and cryptocurrency markets into a data-centric enforcement model, Thailand aims to make its financial system less hospitable to illegal capital while reinforcing transparency, legitimacy, and long-term investor confidence.