New Crypto Laws In Thailand make It More Legitimate

By Ravindra Chagetha

BTC Wires– Cryptocurrency’s legality has been subject to debates and discussions over and over. In such an atmosphere, Thailand’s new laws which legitimizes digital assets and currencies comes as a huge win for the crypto community

Cryptocurrency has been defined in very clear times by Thailand’s Digital Assets Business Decree. It defines it as a medium for exchanging “goods, services or any other rights, or to be exchanged for other digital assets, as well as other electronic data specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (the Thai SEC) Board.”

Digital tokens has been defined by the law as a “electronic data generated on a system or an electronic network” used to “identify the rights of a person to invest in a project or business, identify rights to obtain goods or services, or any other specific rights, as stipulated in an agreement made between the issuer and the holder, including other rights or units specified by the Thai SEC Board.”

With this huge step towards legalizing cryptocurrency, understandably there is going to be an attitudinal change in the country. This means that digital currency will now be treated as any other form of income, which means that it will be subjected to 15% withholding tax.

The new laws are all set to come into effect on May 14. One now needs to get a license if they want to run a Digital asset business and the license should ideally be procured by August 10. Any instances of law breaking will subject the offender to fine or imprisonment.

With legality, came a fresh wave of criticism on regulation laws. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission’s fintech director Archari Suppiroj has assured the media that the SEC will try to curtail cryptocurrency naysayers and gambling activities. People leaving the country due to strict regulations on crypto, is also a possibility that Suppiroj realizes. This will harm the country’s ability to provide security to the investors.

The other option of being lenient with cryptocurrency is also not feasible since experts claim that it could create certain risks. Cyber security expert and CrowdStrike vice president Adam Meyers reaffirms this belief. He says that leniency in cryptocurrency regulations is basically an invitation for cybercriminals to thrive.

He singles out countries like Singapore, which he believes are more susceptible to cyber threats due to their lenient cryptocurrency regulations, unlike other Asian countries like South Korea, China, and Japan, who have stricter regulations. Meyers says that the possibility of hackers infiltrating platforms that utilize digital currency wallets are higher with lenient regulations. Besides that, cybercriminals can makes use of malware to infect computers and steal digital currency.

Ravindra Chagetha

His interests and the desire to learn something new cannot be neglected as he is always keen to learn new things.

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