Paying with Bitcoin at any street vendor in Bangkok is now a reality, without the merchant having to change their habits. While global merchant adoption often faces technical difficulties, an ingenious solution circumvents these obstacles by relying on a peer-to-peer app.
The Lightning Network and peer-to-peer grafted onto the Thai banking network
In Thailand, the PlebQR app successfully makes Bitcoin compatible with PromptPay, the Thai national payment standard used in almost all points of sale.
In practical terms, with PlebQR, users scan the merchant’s PromptPay QR code via the application. Instead of debiting baht (the local currency), they send satoshis (via the Lightning Network, for example) to a local intermediary, a “pleb.” The latter, acting as a liquidity provider, instantly pays the merchant in baht from their own bank account.
In this way, the seller sees no difference; they receive baht without ever handling Bitcoin or being exposed to its volatility.
Since its launch in December 2024, PlebQR has facilitated 1,192 payments, totaling 604,304.17 THB, or more than 16,500 euros. The app has proven to be reliable, with a success rate of over 75%, but also fairly fast, taking an average of 30 to 45 seconds to find a peer willing to accept the offer, then an additional 45 to 60 seconds for the payment to be finalized.
PlebQR works as a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace, connecting those who want to spend BTC with those who want to accumulate it.
Calle, a Bitcoin, Cashu, and BitChat developer, attests to the system’s effectiveness after testing it in the field:
I’ve been living almost entirely on Bitcoin for the past few weeks, buying food, drinks, clothes, and tickets with the sats I earn by posting nonsense on Nostr. […] In Thailand, as in many other places around the world, especially in Asia, the most common form of digital payment is not credit cards, but QR codes. […] That’s where PlebQR comes in. I would describe PlebQR as a “Let me pay for you” app. It connects you, who wants to buy a drink with Bitcoin, with a stranger on the internet who wants your Bitcoins and who pays the bill for you in fiat currency via a QR code!
The tax headache: a major obstacle to the adoption of Bitcoin as a currency
While PlebQR removes the technical barriers, the use of Bitcoin as a common currency still faces tax and regulatory complexity, which varies depending on the user’s tax residence.
For a European, every coffee paid for in Bitcoin technically constitutes a taxable asset transfer. In France, a flat tax of 30% is levied on capital gains as soon as the total transfers exceed €305 per year, requiring complex calculations for each micro-transaction.
The situation is different in neighboring countries. Germany, for example, exempts gains if the assets are held for more than one year (or if the profit is less than €600), while Switzerland applies a 0% rate for individuals classified as private investors.
Before Bitcoin can be considered for adoption as an everyday currency in France, tax constraints will first need to be relaxed to allow Bitcoin to become a real alternative to fiat currencies.
