Thai SEC mulls amending crypto laws to promote growth

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The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to review the existing cryptocurrency regulations to promote growth of the industry. The regulator will amend the royal decree on digital assets in 2020, seeking to find any areas of the law that could have been stumbling blocks to the growth of cryptos in the country, Bangkok Post reported.

The royal decree on digital assets is a law that came into effect last year to regulate the crypto industry. The law, which contains 100 different sections, has been quite supportive of the crypto industry, but the SEC believes there’s room for improvement.

Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, secretary-general of the SEC, stated, “The regulator must be flexible to apply the rules and regulations in line with the market environment. For example, laws should not be outdated and should serve market needs, especially for new digital asset products, and be competitive with the global market. We need to explore any possible obstacles.”

Ruenvadee revealed that there were many companies that have expressed interest in becoming digital issuers, according to the report. However, she clarified that these companies could only issue these digital assets through the licensed ICO portals. Currently, the SEC has authorized three ICO portals, but they are all yet to begin operations.

The SEC will continue to enforce the royal decree and all the other securities laws in order to protect the investors, Ruenvadee said.

The royal decree requires all crypto service providers to seek licensing from either the SEC or the Finance Ministry. As it stands, the SEC has authorized five companies to offer crypto exchange services. Of the five, only Bitkub Online and Satang Pro Corporation are currently operational, the outlet revealed. Bitherb and Huobi Thailand are yet to start operations, while Bitcoin Co shut down operations in August this year.

Coin TH is the only authorized and operational digital asset broker in the country, while no ICO portal has started operations.

The SEC head didn’t reveal what changes the regulator is looking at making. Thailand is considered among the friendliest jurisdictions for crypto businesses globally, and if the SEC makes the regulations even better, the country could become a leading crypto hub. As CoinGeek reported, Thailand is exploring a state-backed crypto and is expected to release the report on its research by Q1 next year.