The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand wants to let mutual and private funds invest in cryptocurrency goods. This is meant to give big and high-net-worth buyers more options. This is part of the SEC’s ongoing work to accept digital assets and meet the growing demand for investing in crypto.
The plan, which was made public on October 9, says that funds should be able to put more money into crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are listed on U.S. stock markets. Aside from that, the SEC wants to let brokerages and asset management firms offer a bigger range of crypto-related goods to big investors.
The plan includes “investment tokens,” which are treated the same way as stocks and bonds because they have similar risk profiles. The goal of this division is to give companies that deal with these kinds of things more information and rules to follow.
The suggested changes, on the other hand, would have different rules for each type of investment. Retail mutual funds would be limited to 15% crypto exposure, but big and high-net-worth investors would not be limited in any way. This would give them more freedom to add digital assets to their investments to broaden them.
Changes will also be made to how crypto investment funds are managed as part of the SEC’s plan. These changes affect important areas like who owns assets, how values are calculated, how information is shared, and advertising rules. The plan also includes tighter rules for high-risk digital assets like Bitcoin. These assets would have to follow more rules, while stablecoins would have their own rules.
Along with these suggested changes, the SEC is also getting ready to let initial coin offering (ICO) sites hire outside companies to help with things like fundraising and project design. This is especially useful for companies that don’t have the right resources in-house.
The SEC is planning to raise fines for violations like “naked short selling” and market abuse as part of its larger plan to change the rules. We expect fines for companies that trade in ways that aren’t legal to go from 1 million baht to 3 million baht, which is a big jump.
In the near future, the SEC plans to open a “Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox.” This will let certain private companies test projects that involve exchanging digital assets for local cash. At the moment, the Bank of Thailand does not allow this to happen, but this project could someday allow cryptocurrencies to be used as a form of payment in Thailand.
Crypto trading is still going strong in the US, with platforms like Bitkub handling millions of dollars in transactions every day. However, the SEC’s new plan shows that they want to make crypto investments more official and open to bigger investors. The plan is open for public comment until November 8, 2024. After that, it will be put forward for acceptance.
