DIGIVESTASI - The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand recently announced that it will restrict the operation of unlicensed virtual currency exchanges in the country. 

The decision was announced by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Secretary General Polnanon Budsaratragon after a meeting of the Technology Crime Prevention and Suppression Committee. 

SEC Thailand plans to submit a complete list of unlicensed virtual currency exchanges to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. To mitigate potential negative impacts, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) has issued a public notice urging investors to immediately withdraw funds from unregistered platforms before the ban takes effect. 

The agency also launched SEC Check First, which serves as an essential tool for investors to check the license status of platforms before trading. Several crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, Kraken, and OKX, all of which are reportedly operating illegally in Thailand according to government data. 
 

Thailand's Crypto Regulation Expands Market Adoption 
The move by Thai regulators to block unauthorized cryptocurrency exchanges is not unique as other major jurisdictions such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and India have already implemented it. Meanwhile, Thailand itself is not a crypto-averse country either.

The White Elephant country has taken a number of steps to improve its crypto ecosystem. For example, it removed the taxation of crypto assets and approved the offer of local fund managers to access US-based crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Notably, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing and trading of nearly a dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, but did not greenlight a similar move for Ethereum.

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