Thailand has moved to regulate the crypto space in the country through the Thai securities and exchange commission (SEC) which issued a warning against investing in nine digital tokens and initial coin offerings (ICOs) that had not been approved by Thai securities and exchange commission. The Thai regulatory body reportedly launched an inquiry into virtual tokens and ICOS being promoted in different social media platforms and singled out 9 offerings being promoted that had not been approved by the regulator.
According to the SEC, the said ICOs and virtual coins had neither filed applications for approval by the body neither had they met the necessary qualifications set by the body. The same digital assets and ICOs had also not presented their smart contracts for assessment by ICO portals. The SEC reiterated that those who had invested in the said assets ought to be wary of investment risks associated with it. The SEC also warned against mushrooming Ponzi schemes that offered returns generated from tokens stating that a lot of such tokens most likely lacked the liquidity to trade and could not be converted to cash. That statement led to a lot of investors lured in by the promise of decent returns by a lot of the online offerings to think twice.
The Thai SEC stated that 50 ICO projects had sought certification from them after the country’s finance ministry announced plans to introduce regulations in August. The commission is working on the requests which will take up to 5 months upon an application submission. A projects’ documentation will be transferred to the finance ministry within 90 days after which the ministry will be allowed a period of 60 days to decide whether to approve a license. Later in August, the regulatory body approved seven businesses to conduct crypto operations as part of the formalization of Thailand’s domestic market.
This move will form a foundation and framework governing crypto businesses in the country along with the regulations that were put into place back in may. The 100 section law in the Thai regulations defines cryptocurrencies as “digital assets and digital tokens” which are under the jurisdiction of the country’s regulatory commission. The country’s finance minister, Apisak Tantivorawong moved to allay fears that the new measures put in place would serve to prohibit cryptos or ICO’s, and indicated that the rules were just meant to ensure proper regulation.
