Recently Thai Government has retracted from its earliest stance regarding crypto trading within the country. Especially the financial regulator of Thailand has indirectly admitted before the public that the proposed crypto regulation was a little confusing. The Securities & Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) accepted that negative criticism was obvious.
Since the Thai SEC had implemented new crypto regulation in the country, they received too much criticism from all corners of the country. The majority of the people termed the new regulation to be “controversial” and against the public interest and crypto industry. Though the law was properly passed and implemented by the Government, yet it was proposed by the Thai financial watchdog. Resultantly, all of the criticism was aimed exclusively at the watchdog.
Recently, the watchdog has issued a clarification in which it stated that most of the people misunderstood the law. It stated that the scope and ambit of the law were different and an absurd impression has been created against the law.
It was indicated by the watchdog that obviously there were certain lacunas in the law. However, these lacunas were inadvertently skipped the attention of the SEC as well as the lawmakers. It accepted indirectly that the public’s hue and cry against the law was genuine and obvious.
Thai SEC clarified that the intention of the law not to burden the taxpayers’ community of the country.
When the law was published it required that only those investors are allowed to invest in crypto whose annual income is above US$ 33,000. This meant that any person whose annual income was less than US$ 33,000 was restricted from investing in any type of crypto assets. The law instantly ignited controversy within and outside the country. Similarly, the restriction was also found on the higher side as compared to the prevailing average income rate.
In addition, it was claimed by SEC that the proposed crypto regulation was interim only meaning thereby that it was implemented temporarily. However, the public alleged what sort of explanation is this where the government is enacting a law on an “interim” basis. However, it was admitted by SEC that the public’s reaction was obvious.
SEC’s Sec. Gen. Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, later on confirmed that the law failed to meet the demands of the people. He stated that he himself had laid down the criteria of annual income after thoughtful consideration. But it seems that people are not ready right now to accept the idea which was implemented in the public interest. He said that SEC’s intention was to safeguard Thai people and their hard-earned money.
He stated further that most crypto investors in Thailand are youngsters who haven’t attained the age of maturity. He said in order to save them from this risky business, steps in the form of regulation were taken. But if the law is not acceptable then it could be revisited and revamped completely, committed SEC’s Sec. General.
