In 2019 Thailand began with an increasingly strong open approach towards the crypto world, issuing licenses on digital assets. In fact, the SEC has issued operating licenses to four crypto exchanges. However, two other activities would have been denied, while another would still be under evaluation.
According to what has been reported, the Thai Security Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved 4 activities, of which three have received the license to operate as a crypto exchange. These are Bitcoin Co, Bitkub Online Co Ltd and Satang Corporation Co Ltd , while only one has received the license to operate as a crypto broker and dealer: Coins TH Co Ltd.
However, the companies Cash2Coins Co Ltd and Southeast Asia Digital Exchange Co Ltd have been excluded at the moment and have therefore not received any license due to the failure to meet SEC standards regarding the KYC system and asset management.
In any case, the Ministry of Finance states that the possibility of applying for a licence in the future is not excluded as long as the two activities will make the necessary changes to their procedures. Both Cash2Coins and Southeast Asia Digital Exchange have until January 14th to inform customers about transfers of digital resources to other crypto exchanges.
Another crypto exchange license request to the SEC comes from Coin Asset Co, which, for the time being, can operate under the provisions of the royal decree that from May 2018 authorises its legality.
On these new government regulations that in a way make the crypto market more regulated, the CEO of Bitkub Capital Holdings, Jirayut Srupsrisopa, said:
“Cryptocurrency investors are mostly retail, but since this activity is not illegal, I expect institutional investors to own most of the shares in the future, similarly to the traditional capital market”.
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“The cryptocurrency market can grow 10 times in the next 2-3 years from $100 billion to $100 trillion (3.21 trillion to 321 trillion baht). The size is minimal compared to global equity markets, which have a combined value of $ 70 trillion”.
Not by chance, it seems that Bitkub is already planning to work with agencies in the securities industry to help investors move from the traditional investment market to the cryptocurrency one.
