5 ICO projects may soon launch in Thailand, regulator says

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Initial coin offerings (ICOs), or at least some of them, will soon be “ready” to raise funds in Thailand.

The country’s financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is poised to approve five ICO projects to register for fundraising procedures, as soon as the organic law of Thailand’s digital asset decree takes effect in late June.

According to The Bangkok Post report, the SEC has received a total of 50 applications for ICO projects seeking to raise funds from the Thai capital market. Of these, five have been identified as “ready as initial pilot projects,” said Thawatchai Kiatkwankul, director of corporate finance in SEC’s equity department. No further details were given about the five ICO projects.

The Thai securities regulator has been working on expanding its division to be able to accept ICO registration applications in addition to initial public offerings (IPOs) submissions. The SEC is expected to continue screening such ICO projects with detailed scrutiny since several scams have surfaced disguised as ICOs in the past. This time, the SEC plans to collaborate with ICO portals to ensure a smooth and straightforward application process.

Thawatchai told the news outlet, “Projects which can be [easily vetted] and have commercial attributes attached to them will be considered for fund raising.” He noted that rules and regulations dedicated to digital assets could also be relaxed since participants in the market are much more educated on digital asset investment, not to mention that domestic competition is already at a level with other digital asset markets.

The Thai SEC recently announced the supervisory details for market participants who are involved in the digital asset trade. These are expected to come into effect later on this month. The SEC will allow seven cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin Cash among them—which can be used for trading pairs with the ICOs mentioned.

After several rounds of public hearings, the Thai SEC issued a royal decree regulating digital assets, which took effect on May 14. The 100-page document, which categorizes cryptocurrencies as digital assets and digital tokens, requires all market participants—from ICO issuers to digital exchanges, brokers and dealers—to register with the SEC within 90 days. Each ICO can be offered to institutional and high net worth investors who can invest with unlimited amounts. Retail investment is capped at THB300,000 per retail investor or no more than 70% of the tokens’ total value.