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Following Thai’s Finance Ministry announcement to introduce regulations in the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) sector, interest in operator licenses is on the rise.
Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) secretary general Rapee Sucharitakul reported that at least 50 ICO projects have expressed interest in getting certification, as reported by the Bangkok Post.
It is however still unclear whether all of the interested companies will be certified so as to raise funds through the model.
Rapee also mentioned that at least three out of five companies which are interested in getting licensed have already made relevant submissions to the SEC.
Furthermore, at least 20 companies looking to set up digital currency exchanges have also made applications to get authorized.
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License approvals are being processed. Many companies interested in opening digital asset exchanges have said digital assets and cryptocurrency trading in the Thai market are quite active,” he said.
Five Month Process
The authorization process could take up to five months, because following an application to the SEC, documents are transferred to the Finance Ministry within a period of three months.
After this, the ministry has a span of two months within which to determine if a company qualifies for license approval.
Among the requirements stipulated, interested companies have to be Thailand-based, of “sound financial status” and need to have paid up registered capital.
However, before any license approvals are made, the SEC will first identify “ICO Portals”, online marketplaces where issuers will sell their tokens. There are five slots available for these portals, and three companies have already made applications.
Thailand is gradually adopting a crypto-friendly stance. Last week, the Bank of Thailand announced that banks would be allowed to set up subsidiaries to handle cryptocurrency business.
Under this arrangement, banks can now run digital asset businesses, issue tokens, offer crypto brokerage services and even invest in the sector.