Thai Regulator Publishes ICO Regulations; 7 Cryptocurrencies Approved

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the country’s capital markets authority, has announced a regulatory framework for initial coin offerings (ICOs) which will go into effect on July 16.

Under the new guidelines, ICO issuers are mandated to have a company registered in Thailand approved by the SEC with a minimum registered capital of 5 million baht (approx. $150,000), a Bangkok Post report confirmed.

While each approved ICO operator will be allowed to offer an unlimited number of tokens to institutional investors, venture capital and private equity firms and ultra-high net-worth individuals, there is a token value cap of 300,000 bath ($9,050) for retail investors, the SEC confirmed.

Notably, ICO issuers are only allowed to receive payments in seven chosen cryptocurrencies. They include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Stellar and Litecoin. Issuers can also accept fiat investments in Thai baht.

ICO issuers will have to go through an ICO portal (company) process, the latter which will need to be pre-approved by the SEC.

Disclosure of the investment prospectus, financial statements, and the source code are all mandated by the SEC. These ICO portals’ management structure and plan of operations will be scrutinized by the SEC. They ‘must be prepared to evaluate ICO issuers’ business plans and the distribution structure of digital tokens as well as perform checks to ensure that computer code, or source code, matches the disclosed information,’ the report added.