Thailand Dodges Extreme Cryptocurrency Regulations

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.

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Special Law for Crypto

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.

No Need for Extreme ‘Section 44’

The Thai regulators have been concerned about the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency and ICO markets. There have been suggestions that “Section 44” may be necessary to immediately regulate this industry.

Section 44 of the Interim Constitution of 2014 empowers the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to issue an order to reform any fields. The NCPO is the junta that has ruled Thailand since 2014. “The deputy prime minister in charge of legal affairs has made clear that Section 44 which empowers the prime minister to have absolute power to make final decision on all problems will remain in force although the country will have the new constitution in use,” Thai PBS reported.

However, Mr. Wissanu Krea-ngam, deputy prime minister under General Prayut Chan-o-cha, told reporters on Friday that there is currently no need to use Section 44 in regards to cryptocurrencies. Instead, he said that normal regulatory procedures will be used.

What do you think of Thailand’s approach to crypto regulation? Let us know in the comments section below.

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