Since the date the Royal Decree on Digital Asset Business B.E. 2561 (2018) comes into effect, Digital asset business operators under the supervision especially. “Digital Asset Exchange” must obtain permission to operate a business from the Minister by the recommendations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand (SEC). To this day there are almost 40 announcements from the Ministry of Finance regarding permission and operation of Digital Asset Business. Let’s update some key points.
How many types of Digital Asset Exchange License?
(1) Cryptocurrency trading center.
(2) Digital token trading center.
(3) Cryptocurrency broker.
(4) Digital token broker.
(5) Cryptocurrency Trader.
(6) Digital token trader.
(7) Cryptocurrency Fund Manager.
(8) Digital token fund manager.
(9) Cryptocurrency consultant.
(10) Digital token consultant.
(11) Digital asset custodial service provider.
Qualifications of the Applicants for a Digital Asset Exchange License.
There are many required qualifications for an applicant for a Digital Asset Exchange license, here are some important keys;
(1) A company established under Thai law, either a Limited company or a Public limited company.
(2) Registered capital must have paid up to not less than 50 million baht on the date of application submission.
(3) Complied with other requirements such as a standard working system that is ready to operate the digital asset business according to the type of license as applied, annual financial statements are satisfied and approved by the SEC Office. Also, major shareholders do not have prohibited characteristics.
Application fee.
Permit application fee: 30,000 baht per application, payable on the application submission date.
The license fee for a digital token trading center or cryptocurrency trading center is 2,500,000 baht each. If you wish to provide digital asset trading services in both formats, you must pay a total fee of 5,000,000 baht, payable on the date of receiving the license.
In addition, for those who have received a license to be a Cryptocurrency Trading Center or Digital Token Trading Center, an annual fee of 0.002 percent must be paid, calculated from the value of buying, selling, or exchanging digital assets in the said trading center but the maximum is not more than 20 million baht per year. But if the fee calculated according to paragraph one is less than 500,000 baht, the minimum fee must be paid at 500,000 baht per year.
The above-mentioned preliminary example fees are fees or expenses that must be paid to obtain a digital asset business license in the category of digital asset trading center only.
Other Government Fees Involved.
Other expenses or fees are involved and shall be considered in your business plan such as setup or management fees of the Limited Company and the Fees related to businesses that must obtain another license from the Bank of Thailand (BOT), the capital reserve fees, or the liquidity maintenance.
And to consider especially the most important expenses are expenses related to developing and managing the technology behind the digital asset trading center, which may be worth hundreds of millions of baht.
Conclusion.
Therefore, when considering the brief conditions of the rules and regulations related to expenses for operating a digital asset trading center that wants to comply with the laws of Thailand, It may require spending hundreds of millions of baht. While things to be considered are not only the cost of business operation but also the number of customers which is a smaller trading size when compared with other countries or regional level and also a competitor, the updated information from the SEC, there are currently 10, 8 of them are already operated, and another 2 that have already received licenses but have not yet started operations. If you have any questions about Digital Asset Business in Thailand, just feel free to contact us.
