Thailand Reins in Speculation in Digital Assets

The country’s finance regulator is banning licensed digital asset exchanges from trading meme coins, fan-based tokens, NFTs and social coins as part of its ongoing regulatory action against crypto trading.

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is prohibiting exchanges in the country from providing services related to utility tokens or cryptocurrencies to ensure customer protection and ward off attempts by anyone using digital assets to operate a grey business, the regulator announced on Friday.

As a result, meme coins like Doge, which has attracted the interest of investors in the past year as its price surged by as much as 10,000 percent this year, will no longer be allowed to be traded in Thailand. The SEC said such coins have «No clear objective or substance or underlying, and whose price [runs] on social media trends.

The move came amid reports that publicly listed mobile phone retailer Jay Mart was making plans to launch the country’s first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) linked to nine local stars and celebrities. However, Jay Mart said it would go ahead with the launch this week as planned, though the NFTs will be listed on foreign exchanges.

NFTs have garnered increasing popularity in recent months, particularly as a way to sell and invest in digital artworks as verification of authenticity and ownership are stored on the blockchain.