Thailand Greenlights Japanese Exchange to Operate 4 Crypto Businesses

The Thai government has issued four licenses to a new crypto exchange. Prior to this, only existing exchanges that were in business before the country’s crypto regulation took effect were approved. The first licensed new exchange in Thailand is a subsidiary of a regulated Japanese exchange, Bitpoint.

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New Crypto Exchange Licensed

Japanese corporation Remixpoint Inc. announced on Thursday that its Thai subsidiary, Bitherb Co. Ltd., has obtained four different crypto-related licenses to operate in Thailand. The announcement concurs with the information posted on the website of the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Remixpoint also operates Bitpoint Japan, one of 17 government-approved Japanese exchanges.

With the new licenses, Bitherb can legally operate as a crypto asset exchange, a digital token exchange, a crypto asset broker, and a digital token broker. Currently, it is the only company approved to operate as a digital token broker in the country.

A representative of Bitpoint Japan told news.Bitcoin.com:

Bitherb did acquire licenses but will begin to operate after SEC inspects the company within 180 days after license acquisition (by July 30th, 2019).

Bitherb is a crypto exchange and management company co-founded by Bitpoint Japan and Asia Herb Association Bangkok Co. Ltd. The latter owns 60.5552 percent of Bitherb while the former owns 39.4446 percent. The president of Bitpoint Japan, Oda Genki, also serves as an officer of the new Thai entity. Bitpoint also operates in other countries including Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Panama.

Four Licenses

The Thai SEC’s website lists all companies that have been approved to operate crypto-related businesses in Thailand. The country enacted its crypto regulation in May and subsequently approved four companies that had been in business before the regulation took effect. Two companies were rejected.

Licenses have been granted to companies in five categories to date: crypto asset exchanges, digital token exchanges, crypto asset brokers, digital token brokers, and crypto asset dealers. Four companies have been approved to operate both crypto asset and digital token exchanges: Bitcoin Co. Ltd., Bitkub Online Co. Ltd., Satang Corp. Co. Ltd. and now Bitherb. Licenses to operate as a crypto asset broker have been granted to Coins Th. Co. Ltd. and Bitherb. Meanwhile, only Bitherb has been approved as a digital token broker and only Coins Th has been approved as a crypto asset dealer.

The Thai SEC launched a website last month called “Siang Soong” which means “high-risk” to help educate the general public about cryptocurrencies and tokens. Rapee Sucharitakul, Secretary-General of the Thai SEC, said that “Digital assets are useful as funding tools … and as a medium of exchange.” However, he added that it is a high-risk asset suited for people with the knowledge and understanding of the technology and not necessarily for general investors.

Editor’s Note (Feb. 25, 2019): This article has been updated with a comment from a representative of Bitpoint Japan.

What do you think of Bitpoint getting four different crypto licenses to operate in Thailand? Do you think many more exchanges will follow suit? Let us know in the comments section below.

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