The largest cinema chain in Thailand, Cineplex, has announced that it will start accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment for tickets in one location in the nation’s capital, Bangkok. The crypto pilot program represents a collaboration with digital asset exchanges Zipmex and Rapidz.
Now customers who want to pay with Bitcoin will have to download the Rapidzpay application, and they will get their tickets from a kiosk machine.
“The service is meant to draw in crypto-using audiences. There are approximately 100,000 Zipmex users and 5,000 have downloaded the Rapidzpay application,” said Narut Jiansanong, a spokesperson for Cineplex Group.
In February, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announced a strategy to attract high-spenders to the Thai economy. The strategy is aimed at Japanese tourists who own crypto – some data points that could represent a figure of 11%. TAT’s governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, spoke about how crypto can improve Thailand’s tourism industry:
“If we can prepare the country for the cryptocurrency market, it will help attract more opportunities from high-spending tourists, especially the young and wealthy generations.”
A couple of years ago, in 2013, selling or buying Bitcoin was illegal in Thailand, but following regulations on many crypto service providers, this was changed, with crypto and tokens being seen as intangible assets.