In 2022 and 2023, following the collapse of the key global players in the crypto industry, regulators around the world closely scrutinized crypto activities and tightened the regulations for digital asset businesses. This tightening primarily concerns the protection and segregation of customers’ assets, which has become standard practice since the crypto crash. Over the past year, we have witnessed a series of enforcement actions and attempts by offshore regulators to classify various types of digital…
The digital assets industry in Thailand has been growing significantly between 2021 and 2022, as more big players in the traditional financial industry and startup spaced enter the digital assets market. Despite the price volatility and regulatory complexities, the country has seen a rise in crypto-related activities. In this updated report – A Complete Guide to the Regulations on Cryptocurrency and Digital Token Offering in Thailand – the Baker McKenzie Thailand team provides an update of the…
In a Statement published on March 23, 2022 (as translated using Google Translate), the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, starting April 1, 2022, digital assets (e.g., Bitcoin) will be banned as a method of payment. Business operators who find that customers are using digital assets to pay for goods or services must notify the user and take action against them, such as suspending or terminating their accounts. The Statement provided a number of…
On June 11, 2021, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement that banned, among other things, all meme tokens. The statement said: The Notification prescribes that digital asset exchanges set their listing rules and prohibits the exchanges from providing services related to utility tokens or cryptocurrencies that have any of the following characteristics: (1) Meme token: having no clear objective or substance or underlying [sic], and whose price running on social media trends; (2) Fan token: tokenized…
This blog has previously discussed how different countries have taken varying positions with respect to their friendliness toward cryptocurrencies and ICOs. Baker McKenzie’s office in Thailand has prepared a guide that contains an overview of the regulatory landscape on digital assets in Thailand.
Thailand has moved closer to being among one of the first jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region (and globally) to facilitate ICOs through targeted regulation. According to a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (“SEC”), as reported by the Bangkok Post, five ICO projects are to be cleared by the regulator and permitted to move forward with their ICO plans (out of 50 ICO projects that applied for regulatory approval). This comes after…