Thai SEC continues its work in regulating the country's crypto market.
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the capital market supervisory agency, has banned crypto companies from providing staking and lending services.
According to the press release shared on September 15th, the decision to halt “depository services” was made to protect investors from risks related to crypto lenders.
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The Thai SEC highlights that due to an ongoing bear market, many cryptocurrency companies are forced to suspend their services or withdrawals. Therefore, the SEC claims that the only way to supervise this matter is to halt staking and lending services.
The announcement distinguishes several key points. The supervisory agency aims to prohibit crypto lenders from taking deposits or deposited digital assets to borrow or invest. Moreover, ban taking digital assets and promising to pay returns, as well as any form of advertising encouraging the public to stake or lend their digital assets.
However, the Thai SEC is keen to hear other opinions until October 17th.
The Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) welcomes its opinions on the principle prohibiting digital asset operators from providing or supporting digital asset depository services that pay returns to depositors.
It is not a surprise that the Thai SEC is keen to protect local investors from crypto lenders, as it has faced numerous problems with crypto exchange Zipmex.
At the end of July, the Singapore-based crypto exchange suspended its withdrawals. The company claimed that Zipmex has no choice but to cease withdrawals due to “volatile market conditions” and the financial difficulties of key business partners. Shortly after that, the Thai SEC rolled out an investigation to analyze the effects the suspension had on investors.
For a while, it seemed that everything had cooled down between Thailand’s SEC and Zipmex. However, on September 7th, the supervisory agency filed a police complaint against Zipmex, and its CEO and co-founder Akalarp Yimwilai, claiming that the company failed to provide requested transaction information.
