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On Sunday, May 13, Thailand passed a law for a new regulatory framework for digital currency operations in the country. The new law calls cryptocurrencies as “digital tokens and digital assets” and brings them under the regulatory purview of Thai Security Exchange Commission (SEC) thereby levying 15% capital gains tax on crypto earnings.
As reported by the Bangkok Post, the Thai Finance Minister made it clear that introducing these laws, the government has no intention of banning digital currencies or ICOs. However, he said that this space needs to be regulated especially after there has been an increasing pressure to act on several cases of firearms and drugs involving crypto use came to the limelight.
The government of Thailand is also said to be working on a new legislation that will allow the local police to seize and suspicious usage of the crypto funds. Currently, under the existing laws, cryptocurrencies have no legal value in Thailand and hence police don’t have any control over them.
The new law states that crypto exchange operators or seller of cryptocurrency should get themselves registered with the SEC. failure to comply with the new laws can levy the operators with a penalty of 500,000 Baht or could even lend them in jail for two years.
The government of Thailand has been for long working on introducing regulatory measures for digital currencies. Back in February, Thailand’s central bank banned all other commercial banks in the country to purchase digital currencies using credit cards.
During the same time, the Thai Digital Asset Exchange (TDAX) also ordered to halt the operations of Initial Coin Offerings owing to regulatory uncertainty.