4 Digital Asset Business Licenses Granted to Crypto Firms and two rejected by the Finance Ministry of Thailand

On Tuesday the Finance Ministry of Thailand awarded digital assets business license to its four crypto firms while rejecting two such applications. The four crypto firms who got the license are three digital asset exchanges and one crypto broker and dealer. The three digital asset exchanges are ‘Bitcoin Exchange Co. Ltd (BX),’ ‘Bitkub Online Co. Ltd (BITKUB),’ and ‘Satang Corporation (Satang Pro.)’ The crypto broker and dealer that got the license is the ‘Coins TH Co. Ltd.’

On the other hand, the two crypto firms that did not get the license are- ‘Cash2coin Co. Ltd’ and ‘Southeast Asia Digital Exchange Co. Ltd/ (SEADEX.) They both applied for the digital asset exchange license. According to the SEC, these two firms were not able to meet the required standards that include points like custody systems, KYC (Know Your Customer) processes. The cybersecurity systems of these two firms could not be verified. This has resulted in ceasing the business of these two firms till Jan 14, 2019. SEC also ordered these firms to return the assets of the clients as their custody. In future though, the firms can, of course, reapply for a license to do business, once they meet the required standards expected by the SEC.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that as per the ‘Emergency Decree on Digital Assets Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018)’, the crypto businesses are regulated. As per the reports from SEC News Release, meanwhile other applications are still under consideration. One such which is under consideration is ‘Coin Asset.’ As per the reports from the SEC, the application is under consideration because it has changed its company executives, which according to the SEC is ‘material information.’ As the application is under consideration, the company is allowed to continue its business based on ‘Transitional Provisions of the Emergency Degree on Digital Assets Business.E. 2561 (2018.)

As per the reports from CoinDesk, in July 2018, the country announced its crypto business licensing rules. This attracted 20 applications from various firm within a month. This new ruling made Thailand one of the first countries to permit ICOs (Initial Coins Offerings) in a controlled and a regulated atmosphere. The SEC then announced that ‘any entity seeking to conduct an ICO must apply for approval with the regulator.’ SEC uses ‘ICO Portal’ (they are like online marketplaces on which ICO organizers can perform their token sales) to evaluate the filings, instead of directly screening applications from the individual ICO projects.