Thailand –Official Announcement of Regulations to prohibit the usage of Digital Assets as a Means of Payment

Summary

On 18 March 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) officially announced the regulations to prohibit the usage of digital assets (i.e. cryptocurrencies and digital tokens) as a means of payment for goods and services with an effective date on 1 April 2022 (The Notification of the SEC no. KorThor 5/2565 re: regulations, conditions and methods of providing services by the digital asset business operator that must not be in the manner of supporting the usage of digital assets as means of payment for goods and services). 

Most of the principles set out in the regulations remain the same as the initial principles proposed the SEC and the Bank of Thailand (as set out in our previous update here) with only a few key additional information and amendments, in particular:

1. A digital assets business operator who is currently violating the regulation will have a grandfathered period to comply with the regulation by 1 May 2022; and

2. Any business operator who continues to violate the regulation will be subject to a fine not exceeding THB 300,000 and an additional fine not exceeding THB 10,000 for each day of the period which the violation continues.