Thai SEC plans to ban crypto lending in the country

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to take radical action in the wake of the crypto lending platform crashes in the summer of 2022. The Thai SEC plans to ban crypto platforms from providing digital asset custody services or to support.

The announcement, published on the official webpage on September 15, reports that the SEC has opened a public hearing on the matter and will be collecting opinions until October 17.

In principle, the regulator plans to ban all brokerage and lending services from the “digital asset business operators” in order to protect traders and the general public from the “risks of such transaction providers”.

The planned ban includes several key points. It prohibits operators from depositing digital assets with the promise of paying returns to depositors, even if the returns do not come from the growing value of the assets, but from the promotion budget. Advertising for lending and storage services would also be banned.

Crypto lending platforms ran into serious trouble this summer amid the general market collapse, as companies like Celsius Network and Voyager Digital have frozen their withdrawals and then filed for bankruptcy.

Related: Zipmex requests meetings with Thai regulators to discuss ‘recovery plan’

Thailand saw its own example in Zipmex – a crypto exchange that suspended withdrawals in July, citing a “combination of circumstances [its] In September, the SEC accused crypto exchange and its co-founder Akalarp Yimwilai of non-compliance with local laws and referred the matter to the police. The regulator alleges that Zipmex failed to provide information about digital wallets and crypto transactions in accordance with the country’s Digital Assets Act.

The SEC will also introduce strict advertising rules for cryptocurrency companies operating in the country from October. Companies will be required to restrict advertising directly promoting cryptocurrency to “official channels” such as their own websites and will be required to submit details of advertisements and expenses, including the use of social media influencers and bloggers and their terms and conditions, to the SEC.