by Didi Rankovic, Reclaim The Net:

Control the currency. Control the people.

A Thai political party is campaigning on a promise to, once in power, distribute some $280 (10,000 baht) worth of digital currency to citizens.

But, what Pheu Thai Party has in mind would come with some strings attached that observers say looks a lot like programmable CBDCs (central bank digital currencies.)

The main feature of this type of CBDCs is the use of blockchain and then the programming of expiry deadlines and geolocation-dictated restrictions into it.