Thailand Pushes Permissive Regulations as First Legal ICO Is Launched

SE Digital obtained permission to launch the first legitimate ICO in Thailand, with the company announcing that it hopes to raise between 2 billion and 3 billion Thai baht through the token sale.

Jesadavat Priebjrivat, the CEO of SE Digital, described the approval of the country's first ICO portal as turning a "New page on Thailand's capital market history," adding that Thailand "Will become one of the first nations in to offer regulated digital token offerings."

On Feb. 14, 2018, J Ventures launched the presale of its ICO, selling 87% of the 100 million tokens on the first day before later selling out.

During its first day, the ZMN ICO sold 2 million tokens and raised 3.5 million baht.

The regulations would see seven crypto assets permitted to be used as trading pairs for ICO tokens - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, XRP and Lumens.

In addition to comprising Thai-based companies with a minimum registered capital of 5 million baht, prospective ICO portals are required to demonstrate readiness to adhere to compliance and security protocols recommended by the SEC. ICO portals were also told to pay an annual fee of 100,000 baht.

Within one month, the Thai SEC reported that 50 ICO issuers had expressed an interest in applying for licenses, while three of the five prospective ICO portals had submitted applications.

While the approval of an ICO portal would not be announced until March of the following year, late 2018 saw the Thai regulator move to make permissive adjustments to the country's regulatory apparatus covering cryptocurrencies and ICOs.

The new rules would relax the regulations surrounding ICO presales and private sales, removing the need for token offerings that exclusively offer private sales and presales to accredited investors to submit registration statements and a draft prospectus with the SEC. Tipsuda Thavaramara, the SEC's deputy secretary-general, stated, "The proposed guideline is an attempt to find greater equilibrium in the regulatory process and reduce regulatory impediments, while taking risk management and investor protection into account."

On March 13, the SEC announced that it had approved the country's first ICO portal the application was still awaiting approval from other regulatory entities, such as the Commerce Ministry.