Rupali Soni
The Securities and Exchange Commission in Thailand issued guidelines banning cryptocurrency exchanges from supporting four tokens of different types.
Thai SEC announced a complete ban on meme-based tokens and the Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the latest guideline issued by the regulatory board. The new rules also prohibit fan-based tokens and exchange-issued tokens in the country. SEC also asked the exchanges to comply with the new rules and the existing guidelines by the commission around the currency, if any while issuing any new tokens. In case the exchanges do not follow the rules, SEC will take strict action and the token will be delisted.
According to the Security and Exchange Commission of Thailand, the exchanges in Thailand are given 30 days of time to upgrade their existing rules so to meet the standards of the new guidelines. As Dogecoin is emerging as a popular cryptocurrency and its value is significantly rising in the crypto market since last year, the new guidelines to ban meme-based tokens can affect the currency negatively.
The Guidelines issued by the regulatory board also contain a lot of new rules and statements for the independent traders and crypto agencies of Thailand. According to the guidelines, crypto investors should have a minimum income of approximately $32000 annually, to invest in the cryptocurrency. Also, every investor has to go through a trading training course by SEC related to cryptocurrency and appear in an exam after that to prove their knowledge and be eligible to invest in the cryptocurrency.
This is not the first time that the Thai SEC issued such strict guidelines against crypto in the country, In fact, many Southeast Asian countries are in a complicated relationship with crypto for years. The new and stricter rules for the investors in the country are issued to keep the middle-class and lower-middle-class earners out of the crypto industry, and this is the reason why the guidelines are facing criticism from the crypto geeks in Thailand. Responding to all the criticism, Secretary-General of Thai SEC, Ruenvadee Suwanmonkol said,
“I proposed the criteria that many considered too tough to prompt people to express their opinions on the matter and did not intend to say these are the exact qualifications that will be implemented.”
Adding to this, the Commission also mentioned that before the final guidelines, the draft paper was published to evaluate the sentiments of the investors towards the new guidelines.