According to reports, Thailand will amend its law regarding digital assets in order to strengthen oversight and give the Thai central bank the ability to supervise the sector. “Right now, the central bank has no room to enter into the regulatory framework except for notifying that cryptos are not a legal means of payment for goods and services,” said the Thai finance minister.
Thai Central Bank to Regulate Crypto Industry
Thailand plans to change its law regarding digital assets in order to improve oversight over the cryptocurrency sector and trading platforms.
Thai Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith explained that the planned amendments to the country’s crypto regulations will “bring the central bank to be part of it,” Bloomberg reported Tuesday. He said that the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission was being asked to take over the regulation overhaul. According to current regulations, the only mandate for the supervision of the crypto sector is given by the securities watchdog.
Following the suspension of withdrawals from Zipmex Thailand Ltd. (a cryptocurrency exchange and licensed digital token exchange), the decision was made to reform crypto regulations. Zipmex granted some coins withdrawal permissions recently, however the company applied for a moratorium to Singapore.
Noting that the current regulatory framework for digital assets “is not clear enough to regulate the industry,” Termpittayapaisith was quoted as saying Monday:
The regulatory environment is not yet open for the central bank, except to inform that cryptos cannot be used as a payment method for goods or services.
Officials stressed, however, that crypto regulation tightening is intended to give investors greater protection and not stop innovation.
He then compared crypto-exchanges with traditional financial platforms. “For the stock exchange, you have the paper to prove you are the owners. In the digital world, you have nothing except for the consent that you put at the bottom, which people never read,” he detailed, elaborating:
We want to ensure that investors are protected and maintain fair competition in this industry.
Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, Secretary General of the SEC, announced plans to reform current crypto regulations in July. The proposals include stricter qualification requirements for managing and licensing crypto custodians.
“The extreme volatility of digital-asset prices has spurred the urgent need for improved supervision,” she noted at the time. “Our main focus will be to provide more protection for small investors, some of whom are putting most of their savings into these assets.”
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