Credit: Shutterstock photoBy Landon Manning
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) plans to ask the Thai government for an exchange license for crypto assets.
According to a report from the Bangkok Post, this move signals that SET is “aiming to open a new exchange and become an authorised digital asset exchange this year.” Assuming this plan goes through, many institutional traders on SET “plan to apply to become brokers and dealers for digital asset trade on the new exchange,” according to SET Board of Governors’ vice chairwoman Pattera Dilokrungthirapop.
The Bangkok Post called this a particularly novel development in the crypto asset space, as a grant of this license will make SET “one of a few global stock exchanges to set up a digital asset exchange separately from a stock exchange.”
Pattera added that “SET is expected to have an upper hand compared with licensed digital asset exchanges in terms of having ‘large capital and trust.’”
Thailand has recently been making moves in the world of distributed ledger technology, with its government looking at possible applications for fighting tax fraud. Still, Pattera said that Thai traders “are not in a hurry to enter the digital asset trade, as some companies are still managing their core businesses, while cryptocurrencies are just one of the asset classes where brokers can adapt their trading platforms to serve digital trading.”
The Post’s report included a description of several planned crypto asset-themed events that SET will be organizing in the near future, including a roadshow and seminar. Investors simply want to make sure that they have a sufficient understanding of this new industry’s ins and outs before ramping up commitment. For now, those interested in a potential Thai blockchain boom should pay attention to the status of this request and its approval, but be ready to see what kind of resources the Thai exchanges could still need in the near future.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
