The Southeast Asian country, Thailand has banned the use of cryptocurrency as a means of payments for goods and services. The ban will be effective from April 1. Digital asset providers have been given 30 days from the ban to comply with it.
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) together arrived at this decision after carefully considering the benefits and risks.
The SEC and BOT have stated the risk of loss of stability of the payment system, money laundering concerns, possibilities of cyber theft as well as the central banks inability to regulate the sector as their primary reasons for the decision.
The SEC also emphasized that the ban is only to protect the financial stability of the country, and that the BOT, SEC, and other government agencies appreciate the innovative reach of the crypto industry and support the use of digital assets for investments as well.
To drive their point home, they reminded everyone of the BOT’s development of central bank digital currency ( CBDC) and promotion of new financial services such as the sale of savings bonds through blockchain technology.
The government of Thailand has however, always been wary of the crypto industry. Thailand’s Revenue Department was recently forced to suspend the 15% crypto tax on capital gains due to public pressure. In June of last year, Thailand’s SEC banned four different types of digital assets which included both NFTs and Fan Tokens.
