Thailand draws a lot of attention as one of the first countries to develop rules conducive to working with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. And it has significantly changed its attitude towards the support of cryptocurrency investors, developers and unique business opportunities.

Since 2017, there have been many regulatory changes in Thailand, and licenses have been issued for exchanges, brokers, dealers, and ICO portals. This marks Thailand as a potential blockchain and cryptocurrency point in Southeast Asia. In addition, significant progress has been made in terms of introducing blockchain in both the public and private sectors, including the National Project on Digital Identifiers, the Central Bank Blockchain Calculation Project (Inthanon), the Thai Digital Assets Exchange project, etc.

Currently, there are two licensed crypto exchanges in Thailand:

1 – Bitkub

2 – Satang Pro

and the only approved broker – Coins Th Co. Ltd

People living in Thailand can register on the Thai exchange and gain access to cryptocurrency trading. To do this, one needs a Thai bank account. One can open a bank account when buying / renting real estate or having a work permit. To start conducting cryptocurrency operations, a user needs to confirm his identity by sending a copy of the requested document. It should be noted that exchanges provide the ability to deposit or withdraw fiat funds in Thai baht.

 Thai authorities are also starting to use blockchain and cryptocurrencies

Currently, Thailand is a blockchain-based entrepreneurship development center where 26 start-ups were created at the beginning of 2019, and it is estimated that 10% of Thais own some form of cryptocurrency – this is the second largest cryptocurrency indicator in the world, second only to South Africa ownership share 10.7%.

In Thailand, the blockchain regulation is controlled by key regulators, including the Bank of Thailand (BOT), the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Office of the Insurance Committee (OIC).

In July 2013, by a decision of the BOT, it was forbidden to buy and sell Bitcoins, buy or sell any goods or services in exchange for BTC, send any BTC to anyone outside of Thailand, or receive BTC from anyone outside the country. However, in January 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement stating that Bitcoin is an asset that can be traded, but Thailand does not regulate operations with Bitcoin. The SEC does not endorse Bitcoin status, and Bitcoin is not a legal tender.

On October 27, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission published Aor Tor Ngor 34/2560 – a public consultation document on its approach concerning the regulation of the initial supply of coins. Accordingly, it was initially allowed only to a limited circle of people, including institutional investors, venture capital funds, private equity funds, investors with ultrahigh net assets, and also retail investors with a limit on investment in projects. In addition, the Thai ICO portal was installed, which requires a unified approach for all future enterprises of this type. New restrictions include due diligence, compliance, and documentation requirements, which means that the Thai ICOs are strictly regulated.

On November 29, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) announced its plan to introduce blockchain technology to improve capital markets in Thailand and presented its pilot project on corporate bonds. SEC Secretary-General Rwenwadi Suwanmongkol said the agency will implement the blockchain technology as part of its chief plan for improving capital markets in Thailand. Since Thai baht remains one of the strongest currencies in Southeast Asia, which is a reflection of the country’s economic stability. Rouenwadi showed that the project will use distributed ledger technology (DLT), which will make it easier for investors to access capital markets, while at the same time reducing costs and increasing overall efficiency. The master plan contains an overview of how the Thai capital market can apply DLT to various processes, from issuing and offering for sale in the primary and secondary markets to post-offer processes related to corporate bonds, SME shares, mutual funds and derivatives.

The Thai government uses blockchain in various areas of governance as part of Thailand’s 4.0 development program.

In January 2019, the National Center for Electronics and Computer Technology of Thailand (NECTEC), an office of the Ministry of Science and Technology, announced that it had completed the development of a blockchain-based voting system, although further testing is needed for its widespread implementation. Taking this into consideration, the blockchain systems are decentralized and therefore unshakable, their use in national elections will further strengthen the integrity and legitimacy of election results.

In November 2019, the Electronic Transaction Development Agency (ETDA), a unit of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, launched a digital identification project with the goal of creating a nationwide digital identification platform. Using the infrastructure of the National Company for Digital Identifiers (NDID), ETDA aims to use blockchain-based timestamps to authenticate and verify the digital identity of Thai citizens.

And the Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) under the Commerce Ministry announced that it was launching a pilot project to use the blockchain to track agricultural products and monitor export quality.

Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Finance in November 2019 announced three new blockchain projects to issue value added tax (VAT) refunds for purchases by foreign tourists, government purchases, and the issue of irrevocable savings bonds. For VAT refunds, the Revenue Department, Customs Department and Krung Thai Bank are currently developing a blockchain-based mobile application for working with VAT refund applications, which will solve the problem of fraud and reduce paperwork. For public procurement, the Ministry of Finance will use blockchain-based guarantees to reduce the need to check suppliers with regard of collateral, optimizing the procurement process.

 

Link to resource: https://www.asiablockchainreview.com