Key takeaways:
- Thai officials intend to prohibit unlicensed crypto exchanges from conducting business within the nation in order to combat cyber crimes such as money laundering.
- The Thai SEC advises investors to use the SEC Check First application to verify the platforms’ license registrations before making any investments.
Thai officials intend to prohibit unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges from conducting business within the nation in order to combat cyber crimes such as money laundering.
An inventory of illegal cryptocurrency exchanges will be provided to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Following the Technology Crime Prevention and Suppression Committee meeting on April 19, Thai SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon revealed the directive.
Inspired by India and the Philippines, which recently outlawed all offshore exchanges that did not adhere to local laws, Thailand decided to ban unregistered businesses.
The Thai SEC advised cryptocurrency investors to remove their money from unregistered platforms before the ban went into force to lessen the impact on the general population. An interpretation of the SEC statement stated:
“The SEC would like to warn the public and investors to be careful of using services with unlicensed digital asset business operators because they will not be protected by law. There is also the risk of being deceived (scam) and being (associated with) money laundering.”
The Thai SEC advises investors to use the SEC Check First application to verify the platforms’ license registrations before making any investments. A cursory search for “Binance” reveals that the cryptocurrency exchange has not yet registered and will have to shut down when the prohibition goes into force.
Government data indicates that other well-known offshore cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase, KuCoin, Kraken, and OKX, are not permitted to operate in Thailand.
European regulatory pressure may result in a prohibition on non-decentralized protocols. A study assessing the decentralized financial (DeFi) market and the viability of sector-specific laws must be prepared by the European Commission by December 30, in accordance with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), the new regulatory framework governing digital assets in the region.
