Crypto has given Thailand a way to build and export its own talent and brands, according to Didi Wiboonma, Chief Communications Officer at Thai exchange Bitazza. “It’s okay to be Thai. It’s okay to be in a Thai business,” she told Licensed to Shill host Takatoshi Shibayama, head of APAC at Ledger.

Shibayama framed the conversation around Thailand’s economic position. He described a country caught in a middle-income trap, too expensive to compete with low-cost neighbours such as Vietnam and not yet innovative enough to match Singapore or Taiwan. Tourism makes up around a fifth of GDP, he said, which left the economy exposed when COVID closed borders.

Wiboonma joined Bitazza’s founding team in 2018, and the exchange began…