The Thai SEC stated that the proposal aims to reduce burdens on ICO portals and investors while it aligns oversight with industry standards.
Thailand’s securities regulator seeks public input on new rules that would ease knowledge testing requirements for crypto investors while mandating comprehensive suitability assessments.
The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting public hearings on proposed initial coin offering regulations. These regulations would allow investors to bypass repeated knowledge tests if they have previously passed such assessments, the commission announced on Friday.
Under current rules, investors must complete knowledge tests every three months before investing through ICO portals.
The proposed changes target two key areas of investor protection.
First, the SEC wants non-institutional investors—those not classified as ultra-high-net-worth or high-net-worth individuals—to pass a knowledge test before investing, unless they have already completed one.
Second, ICO portals would conduct comprehensive suitability tests “to ensure that investors in digital tokens understand the investment risks and have a risk tolerance level appropriate and in alignment with the product risk.”
Regulators must review and update these assessments at least every two years, which replaces the current quarterly requirement.
“This proposal aims to reduce the burden on both ICO portals and investors by canceling the requirement for such assessment every three months,” the SEC said in its announcement.
The regulator noted that the new requirements align with “regulatory practices applicable to both securities and digital asset business operators.”
Pandya stated that the proposed knowledge and suitability tests would help keep “amateur investors” from blindly jumping into ICOs and repeating mistakes from the “old ICO scam era.”
“Their ICO portal enables raising funds, which is again a benchmark ahead of its time compared to UAE or Hong Kong too,” he noted.
Under the proposed framework, professional investor classes would remain exempt from the knowledge testing requirements.
Investors and stakeholders can comment on the proposal, which could change how ICOs are accessed in Thailand, until August 1.
Thailand’s regulatory push extends beyond ICO portals; in June, exchanges also began listing self-issued tokens through consultations, with enhanced disclosure requirements to prevent insider trading.
The country is simultaneously preparing pilot programs for crypto tourism payments in popular destinations like Phuket, and considering retail access to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
