Thai SEC Issues Warning About Investing In Nine Digital Tokens and ICOs

By Kapil Gauhar

The Thai SEC warned the public about investing in nine digital tokens and ICOs, which haven’t been accredited by the regulator, reported by news outlet Bangkok Post on October 26.

The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly started an investigation into unregistered digital tokens as well as ICOs promoted on social media platforms for the investment and explored nine cases in which promoted digital assets hadn’t been authorized by the market regulator.

According to SEC, the convicted digital assets as well as ICOs have neither filed an application for the SEC’s approval nor have they met the necessary qualifications. They did not even have smart contracts measured by ICO portals. The SEC told that individuals who have invested in the alleged assets need to be wary of associated investment risks.

The SEC allegedly reiterated a warning about Ponzi schemes which convince individuals for investing in digital assets by promising their investment returns generated through the tokens.

The regulator added, “Information disclosure for investment decision-making is also inadequate, while these digital assets might not have sufficient liquidity to trade and cannot be converted into cash.”

In August, the Thai SEC said that almost 50 ICO projects showed interest in being certified following the announcement by Finance Ministry for introducing ICO regulations. The verification process takes about 5 months as upon the submission of any application. Thereafter, the Finance Ministry has two months to decide whether to approve a licence or not.

Later on, the SEC gave the approval to seven businesses for conducting cryptocurrency operations as part of the nation’s domestic market. The step forms part of a package of transitional regulations governing crypto businesses operating in Thailand before the first tranche of regulations which came into force May 14.

The 100-section law defines digital currencies as “digital tokens and digital assets”, and brought them under the SEC’s regulatory jurisdiction. Apisak Tantivorawong, Thai Finance Minister, allegedly made sure that the new measures are not made to prohibit ICOs or cryptocurrencies.