- Thailand‘s Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it will block access to all unauthorized digital asset service providers
- The country’s crackdown on unauthorized crypto platforms will enable it to combat online criminal activities, including money laundering more efficiently
Thailand’s SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has announced it will block access to unauthorized digital asset service providers’ platforms. The disclosure on the agency’s official website last Friday revealed that the regulator joined forces with the country’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and other relevant agencies for an assault against illegitimate digital asset service providers.
According to the Thai SEC’s Secretary-General, Mrs. Pornanong Busaratrakul, a resolution from the Technology Crime Prevention and Suppression Committee ordered the Commission “to submit information on unauthorized digital asset service providers to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society Proceed to block access to the platform of the said service provider.”
The regulatory move to block unauthorized digital asset service providers is intended to facilitate the Thai government’s fight against online crime by checking the criminal use of such platforms to launder illicit cash.
Following the SEC’s resolution, the regulator will send the list of culpable digital asset service providers to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to follow due process and file a petition against them in court. This legal process will buy service users enough time to “manage their accounts before being unable to use the service.”
The Thai SEC says its blocking of unauthorized digital asset platforms is similar to what fellow Asian countries like India and the Philippines did. In January, India’s Ministry of Information Technology blocked some major cryptocurrency exchanges‘ websites, including Binance, OKX, Kucoin, and others, after the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit issued show cause notices to the non-compliant exchanges in December 2023.
In a similar event, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission blocked Binance in March, after accusing the exchange of offering an “investment and trading platform” without the requisite license. According to the Philippines’ SEC Chairperson, Emilio B. Aquino, access to Binance’s websites and apps “poses a threat to the security and funds of investing Filipinos.”
The Thai SEC’s recent action against unauthorized digital asset service providers is not the first time the securities watchdog has gone offensive against non-compliant platforms. In 2021 and 2023 respectively, the Commission took legal action against offshore crypto exchanges like Binance and ByBit for not obtaining the necessary permission to offer their services within the country.
The SEC now requests all investors in non-compliant digital asset platforms to quickly withdraw their assets and quit using the services of such unauthorized operators. The law will not protect investors in unauthorized exchanges and they will bear all the risk if scammed.