Thailand’s Stock Exchange to Launch Digital Assets ‘Very Soon’

The Stock Exchange in Thailand is gearing up for the launch of a digital asset exchange. The Thai bourse’s president believes that the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is the crypto regulator in the country, will give their approval for the launch ‘very soon’. Dr. Pakorn Peetathawatchai, serves as the president of the SET i.e. the Stock Exchange of Thailand. He gave an interview to Bloomberg that was published on Sunday and talked about the digital asset exchange of the SET that would be launched soon. He stated that he believed the country’s regulator would give their approval for the exchange soon and hope to launch their operations in the second or the third quarter of this year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand has the responsibility of issuing licenses to entities that want to offer crypto services to people, which includes crypto exchanges. According to the Thai stock exchange’s president, their focus would be utility tokens and investment tokens. He said that their digital asset exchange would offer both because these have had a high demand in local as well as international markets. He went on to say that some investors wanted to make investments in these digital assets, while others were interested in utility tokens or investment tokens for the purpose of raising funds.

However, the president was also questioned about whether the new digital exchange of the SET would also offer people the option of trading cryptocurrencies and he denied it. He said that investment tools and investment vehicles had been their strength, so crypto trading would not be available. But, he did elaborate that they would look into developing a way that would allow them to connect to crypto exchanges in order to convert crypto to fiat money. Peetathawatchai also talked about the risks associated with crypto assets and said that the SEC and the Bank of Thailand were working together for looking into these areas.

He added that they would come up with a law to deal with them in the future. He went on to say that the SEC had been making a great deal of effort to educate investors and had disclosed a lot of information on cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges. According to the SET executive, the SEC had also been working with listed companies in the country who wish to enter the crypto space. Their goal was to provide investors with more information to determine the benefits and effects and also consider the risks for the businesses that the listed companies would like to engage in.

It was only recently that Thailand had decided to relax its tax rules related to crypto and had eliminated the 15% withholding tax that had received a lot of criticism. Furthermore, an announcement was made by the SEC, the central bank as well as the finance ministry about regulating cryptocurrencies in the country as a means of payment. Thailand is certainly not the only country that is currently contemplating regulating of the crypto space, as many others are grappling with a similar situation.