- ICO in Thailand:
· The Thailand financial regulator needs to allow five ICO projects once the new regulatory structure comes into the effect this month. Out of 50 ICO projects in the country, only five ICOs have satisfied the registration demands that were arranged by the regulator.
· The focus group simplified that ICOs are allowed to raise funds only in the Thai baht and cryptocurrencies permitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand. Applications of the projects running ICOs must be achieved within
2 months which also needs to observe the KYC and the AML standards.
· Siam Blockchain also states that the ICO Portal of Thailand won’t allow any international ICOs to get listed in Thailand, and the Thai SEC neither be involved with nor responsible for the ICOs of stable coins, which gets alternatively directed to the national bank for regulation.
· The SEC Thailand has issued a crypto regulatory framework that characterized the cryptocurrencies as the digital assets and digital tokens under their regulatory commission. The Finance Minister of Thailand, Apisak Tantivorawong, claimed that the new law of government is really supports ICOs, as far as they are officially registered.
- First Public Company to Launch ICO:
· A Publicly traded company has launched an ICO that has made a new way for other token sales in Thailand.
· Jay Mart Plc’s ancillary company, J Ventures Limited has launched its ICO called Jfin Coin. Jay Mart Plc functions in the wholesale and retail sectors for mobiles and technology accessories and is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
· The pre-sale of Jfin Coin was held on Feb 14, this year costing around 6.60 baht (~US$0.21) per token, which was sold out. Its ICO was introduced on a local cryptocurrency exchange Coin Asset at 6.45 baht, but instantly potted 57.09% to roughly 3 baht before reclaiming some of its losses. Currently it is being traded at 3.94 baht (~$0.12).
- Other ICOs To Follow:
· The Government of Thailand is currently formulating the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and ICOs. Nevertheless, some companies are not willing to wait for the legal framework to be brought in.
· After Jfin Coin, Zmine Holdings Limited is also planning to arrange a token sale. CEO & Co-founder Kasem Pativitvatana claimed that the company anticipates raising at least 180 million baht (approx.$5.6 million) through issuing 100 million ZMN tokens so as to expand its crypto mining business which had begun in 2014.
· The ZMN tokens pre-sale has begun last week. MGR Online reports says that 2 million tokens were sold on the first day for around 3.5 million baht (~$109,825).
· Recently, “the Finance Ministry took steps to put the brakes on the Initial Coin offering (ICO) bandwagon by threatening to hit the emerging ICO market with value-added tax and capital gain tax,” the Nation Multimedia described, adding: Under the proposed new laws, the [Thai] Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would be responsible for regulating the ICO market, covering securities and other kinds of digital tokens. One key feature of a related new law covers the electronic-KYC (know your customers) requirement aimed at preventing money launderers and other criminals from taking advantage of the new funding channel.
- ICO Regulations in THAILAND:
· SEC Thailand has released an extensive framework for the regulation for the cryptocurrency market in the country. The regulatory guidelines cover ICOs, approved cryptocurrency trading pairs, and licensing fees for market operators. The regulations were made widely known on June 8, 2018, which will come into effect later in the same month.
· Thailand banned ICOs in May 2018, while allowing the formerly planned 7 percent VAT on all the cryptocurrency transactions. The new ICO regulations contradict the ban while imposing strict conditions that must be satisfied by upcoming ICOs. Considering the SEC law, companies that are looking to conduct an ICO must signify the type of token that is being issued as well as other relevant investment information.
· The law also specifies that the ICO portals are required to manage their offerings for minimum one year while having a minimum base capital of 5 million baht (about $157,000 USD). The Law also declared that Each ICO offering can be awarded to institutional and ultra-high-net-worth investors at an unlimited investment amount, but the investment is capped at 300,000 baht for retail investment per person or no more than 70 percent of total value of offered tokens.
- APPROVED CRYPTOCURRENCY TRADING PAIRS:
· Following the month of May 2018 guideline has been passed that virtual currencies must be classified as digital assets, even the SEC Thailand has approved seven cryptocurrencies to be used as trading pairs. Namely Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, and Stellar.
· Considering SEC Thailand, these currencies were chosen on the basis of their credibility and liquidity among other parameters.
· Around ten companies are being said to apply for operating licenses, out of which, five companies are exchange platforms and the other five are broker firms. It is also said that every Cryptocurrency exchange platforms must apply for a license before August 14, 2018.
- LICENSING FEES:
· The new Thailand regulations for cryptocurrency also contains an extensive disintegration of licensing fees for the market operators. As administered by the country’s Finance Ministry, all the digital currency exchange businesses must be registered in Thailand only. All the registered companies will pay genuine registration fees of 5 million baht. The licensing fees covers both the token distribution as well as the cryptocurrency operations.
· The minimal capital for the centralized exchange services is 50 million baht ($1.57 million). And for the decentralized exchanges and brokers, the minimum capital is 5 million baht and 10 million baht ($314,000), respectively. The ministry also imposed minimum capitals for brokers, that is 1 million baht ($31,400) and for the dealers, it is 5 million baht.
OiX.li / OiX.legal / OiX.Global