The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to explain how already existing laws could be applied to crypto securities. Another thing to mention is that Thai companies that are planning to issue securities tokens abroad need to follow specific regulations. The information was released a few days ago by the Bangkok Post.

According to the Bangkok Post, regulators are still not sure how to deal with securities token offerings (STO). To be clear, these STOs are crypto tokens that are backed by real assets, including gold or real estate. While IPOs are regulated under the Securities Act, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) follow the Digital Asset Act.

However, the SEC has to issue licenses for ICOs if they want to raise money in Thailand. And this regulatory framework has barely got off the ground.

According to Tipsuda Thavaramara, the deputy secretary of the SEC explained that the regulator has to consider how to deal with STOs. The share of ownership, voting rights and dividends are some of the issues to take into account.

Apparently, if STOs share the same conditions to other securities, they would have to follow a similar process that IPOs follow. That means that they will be regulated by the SEC Act. Additionally, STO trading would fall under the Digital Asset Act just in case the fund-raising is carried out in the same way as for Initial Coin Offerings.

Tipsuda commented about these regulations:

“At the moment, we have not decided whether STOs fall under the SEC Act of the Digital Asset Act, but it depends on the STO’s conditions and the details in its white paper. The SEC will have to consider carefully how to respond to each STO.”

At the same time, Prinn Panichpakdi, the managing director of CLSA Securities Thailand, explained that STOs are popular and trendy in overseas markets and they would reach the Thai market in the near future. However, regulators in the country are not ready to issue digital asset licenses.

Prinn said that the environment is changing and that the SEC would have to see how to deal with companies that launch these products in other markets.

Regulatory issues around the world related to virtual currencies are not clear and are generating troubles among crypto companies and investors. Nevertheless, there are some countries such as Malta or Japan that are trying to be ahead of the market creating clear regulations and protecting investors from fraudulent activities.

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