Thailand’s financial regulators have approved new regulation that would allow businesses to classify cryptocurrency holdings as business capital, according to a report from local media outlet the Bangkok Post published on Nov. 18.
- Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) altered its net capital (NC) rules to support digital assets trading and general trading volume
- The regulatory body noted that the country’s stock exchanges had seen a surge in trading volume following the US election, and that the new regulation would support this increased volume
- One of the changes allows for cryptocurrencies to be counted as capital funds; however, the maximum amount calculable for digital assets to a firm's NC is 50% of the asset value
- Businesses will also be expected to hold more than 1% of the capital funds in a cold wallet and 5% of client funds in another wallet
- The alterations are expected to free up liquidity for firms that are looking to support digital currencies; the SEC stated that some of these companies had approached it to discuss the launch of a cryptocurrency exchange