Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is not exactly a fan of crypto developments in the country. The [Thai] SEC has banned crypto companies from offering strike and loan services, and this is not the first measure the Thailand securities and exchange commission has taken against crypto.
Protection of traders
Thailand’s SEC recently came out with the news that it was banning strike and loan services. According to the regulator, this is meant to protect crypto traders from the risks involved. Indeed, it has been common for these types of services – like Celsius, for example – to freeze users’ funds.
The Thai SEC does often intervene in crypto matters. For example, the body decided to ban all crypto payments as of April 1 (no joke). The reasons why the SEC wanted to ban it at the time are typical.
The regulator was afraid that people were laundering money via crypto and the SEC was afraid that banks could not intervene sufficiently. The latter is one of the reasons crypto exists, but the Thai SEC – as now – sees threats rather than solutions.
Endless restrictions
The SEC said at the time that it would only stop transactions, but not crypto itself. But with the new rules, the regulator does seem to be achieving this goal in the long run. Perhaps the SEC will pivot when it can get more oversight of crypto, but for now it seems like a permanent ban.
Many a crypto investor is not cheered by the restrictions imposed there. Currently, Thailand has a ban on crypto payments, strike and crypto loans. If that’s not bad enough, the country also has a 15% tax on crypto profits.
Despite Thailand’s regulator saying that these rules are made to protect traders, they are depriving investors of a large portion of their funds this way. With these new rules, there are also few opportunities for crypto startups to develop in this market.
This usually results in crypto startups exporting to countries like Singapore, where they can develop freely – without a regulator breathing down their necks.
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