Thailand bans unlicensed crypto exchanges to ‘solve online crime’

Thai authorities ban unlicensed crypto exchanges from operating in the country to prevent money laundering and other online crimes.

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will submit a list of unsanctioned crypto exchanges to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

The order was announced by Thai SEC Secretary General Pornanong Budsaratragon on April 19 after a meeting of the Technology Crime Prevention and Suppression Committee.

Thailand's decision to ban unlicensed firms was inspired by India and the Philippines, which recently banned offshore exchanges that failed to comply with local laws.

To minimize the impact on the public, Thailand's SEC has urged crypto investors to withdraw their funds from unregistered platforms before the ban takes effect. The SEC notice reads as follows:

“The SEC wants to warn the public and investors to be careful about using services with unlicensed digital asset trading operators because they are not protected by law. There is also a risk of fraud and (money laundering) involvement.”

Thailand's SEC urges investors to check the platform's license registration with the SEC Check First app before making any investment. A quick search of “Binance” shows that the crypto exchange has yet to be registered and will need to close when the ban is implemented.

Other popular offshore crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, KuCoin, Kraken and OKX do not operate legally in Thailand, according to government data.

Related: Apple India bans 9 other crypto exchanges Binance after FIU announcement

Regulatory pressure in Europe may lead to the banning of decentralized protocols. According to Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) – the new regulatory framework governing digital assets in the region – the European Commission is required to prepare a report by December 30 assessing the decentralized finance (DeFi) market and the feasibility of diversification. Rules for the sector.

Rune Christensen, co-founder of MakerDAO, among many crypto entrepreneurs, pointed out that the regulations would put some DeFi interfaces, such as decentralized exchanges, under licensing requirements.

“This makes DeFi frontends impossible on regular internet domains as we know them today. They can only be fully decentralized, local, downloaded frontends, or full-KYC online frontends. It's unfortunate,” he wrote on X.

Magazine: a16z snubs crypto, Mango market found guilty of exploitation and Worldcoin L2: Hodler's Digest, April 14-20