Thailand Dodges Extreme Cryptocurrency Regulations

[Cordillerabit]

The Thai Deputy Prime Minister has mandated that the law on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings be finalized within a month. The regulators have met and agreed that there is no need to invoke the country’s controversial Section 44 law but to introduce a “special law” for them instead.

Mr. Rapee Sucharitakul, Secretary-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (TSEC), revealed on Saturday that related committees have met and decided to enact a “special law” to govern all areas of cryptocurrency, with the TSEC in charge, Thai Rath reported.

This law will also regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) including providing rules on parties involved in token sales such as investors, middlemen, issuers, and trading platforms, the news outlet detailed, adding:

The special law will regulate the purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies and ICOs in order to avoid market manipulation, money laundering, tax evasion, as well as multi-level marketing schemes.

The Thai Minister of Finance, Mr. Aphisak Tantiworawong, told the news outlet that the country’s Department of Revenue is considering how to tax digital currencies and is waiting for the result of the study from the four units in charge of drafting the law.

The units are the TSEC, the Ministry of Finance, the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Office, and the Bank of Thailand. They recently met and agreed that it is necessary to define and regulate cryptocurrency.

Mr. Somkid Jatusripitak, the Deputy Prime Minister, has ordered the law on cryptocurrencies and ICOs be finalized within one month.

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