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Thailand stock exchange announces a new trading platform for digital tokens, but it won’t support crypto.

Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank has invested over half a billion dollars to acquire 51% of the country's crypto exchange Bitk
Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank has invested over half a billion dollars to acquire 51% of the country’s crypto exchange Bitkub.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand has snubbed cryptocurrencies while announcing a new trading platform for digital tokens, citing volatility and high levels of money laundering, and other illegal activities in digital currency markets. The new project will offer a platform for the exchange of asset-backed digital tokens but will not include options to buy or sell digital currencies like Bitcoin, which the Stock Exchange of Thailand rejected outright. The stock exchange felt cryptocurrencies like BTC did not meet the threshold criteria for listing.

Listing cryptocurrencies would damage the reputation of the exchange.

According to local news reports, the stock exchange felt digital currencies like BTC did not meet the threshold criteria for listing. Including crypto would damage the reputation of the exchange, the stock exchange noted. Kitti Suthiatthasil, Executive Vice-President of Thailand’s Stock Exchange, set out the reasons for not supporting cryptocurrencies on the new platform. “Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are currently used in some countries which are experiencing high inflation and currency fluctuations, such as Zimbabwe and Venezuela as an equivalent of fiat money,” the vice president noted.

“Cryptocurrencies could be used for money laundering.”

“Another reason why the SET is not interested in cryptocurrencies despite their recent surges is that they can easily be used for money laundering. If people are caught laundering money on the SET digital asset platform using cryptocurrencies, it could harm the SET’s reputation and overall investor confidence,” Suthiatthasil added. “We just buy the future, and hopefully, the digital asset marketplace will grow as expected,” the vice president further added. It comes against a backdrop of strong regional growth for digital assets in Asia, with Korea, Japan, Singapore, and China working with or experiencing strong growth in this sector recently.

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