The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand has invited stakeholders to provide inputs and comments on the proposed legalization or otherwise of cryptocurrency staking and lending services by digital currency service providers in the country.
A statement issued by the SEC in this regard said that the legislation seeks to better protect investors’ funds, especially if the firm faces liquidity issues.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand (SEC) is seeking public comments on a draft regulation prohibiting digital asset business operators from providing or getting involved with crypto saving (deposit taking) and lending services. The proposed regulation aims to provide greater protection to investors, reduce associated risks, and prevent a misunderstanding that deposit-taking and lending services are under the same supervision as regulated digital asset businesses.
” Under the SEC’s policy, digital asset business operators are not allowed to provide or support deposit-taking and lending services to prevent possible damage to digital asset investors and the public in the possible event of service discontinuance or financial problems that may occur on a continuous or concurrent basis among service providers as has recently been the case for foreign counterparts. In addition, the draft regulation is expected to further clarify the scope of supervision of digital asset businesses because they are not under state oversight.
“The SEC conducted a public hearing on the principle of the proposed regulation during the month of September and October 2022 in accordance with the resolution of the SEC Board Meeting No. 12/2565 on 1 September 2022. Essentially, the draft regulation would prohibit digital asset business operators from:
(1) Accepting deposits of digital assets from the customers and lending, investing, staking or employing such digital assets;
(2) Accepting deposits of digital assets from the customers and paying them regular interests or other types of benefits from their own source of fund unless those activities are in accordance with the sale promotion rules;
(3) Advertising, persuading, or acting in any other manners to support the deposit-taking and lending services under (1) and (2) of other service providers.”
This public hearing was conducted shortly after the collapse of some cryptocurrency firms including Celsius, Voyager Digital, Babel Finance, and Thai-based Zipmex.
