Thailand introduces a ban on the use of Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic in ICO

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) has banned the use of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) inas part of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and as a base pair on cryptocurrency exchanges. The Thai SEC published this information on its website on Thursday (28 February 2019).

The excerpt reads:

“As a result of the latest update there wereestablished cryptocurrencies available for use as part of ICO investments and basic trading pairs, namely (1) Bitcoin (BTC), (2) Ethereum (ETH), (3) Ripple (XRP) and (4) Stellar (XLM). Additionally, three other cryptocurrencies have been removed from the list, namely: (1) Bitcoin Cash (BCH), (2) Ethereum Classic (ETC), and (3) Litecoin (LTC).”

ก.ล.ต. ปรับปรุง ราย ชื่อ ค ริ ป โท เค อ ร์ เร น ซี สำหรับ ลงทุน ใน ICO และ เทียบ ราคา สินทรัพย์ ดิจิทัล อื่น ใน ศูนย์ ซื้อขาย https://t.co/EMUshrp11Y

— ThaiSEC_News (@ThaiSEC_News) February 28, 2019

After the release of the announcement, BCH, LTC and ETC are morecannot be used in the ICO process. In addition, these cryptocurrencies in the country cannot be used as base pairs for trading with other virtual currencies.

Since May 2018, the country's regulatory authorities begantake steps to create clear rules for the Thai cryptocurrency market. Back in August 2018, it was reported that about 50 ICO projects had expressed their interest in obtaining licenses from the SEC.

Regarding creating a reliableregulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, the Thai SEC also intends to update reporting standards for cryptocurrency companies. Today, Friday, the regulator published a statement calling on stakeholders to provide information related to the activities of cryptocurrency brokers and exchange platforms.

According to the press release, the SEC is asking themtransaction data and profile data. Transaction data includes trading volume, deposits, withdrawals, etc. Regarding the profile data, the Thai SEC says that it is interested in wallet addresses, account numbers and other information about token issuers.

Commenting on the need for a standard set of rules for presenting data in the industry, SEC Thailand said:

“A standardized database willuseful not only for the supervision of digital asset business, but will also promote cooperation between business operators and the SEC to optimize the use of relevant data to create a clear picture of the entire digital asset industry, laying out a development plan for the digital asset market, and solving problems and preventing risks .”

According to the announcement, all interested parties have until March 13, 2019 to submit their views on the matter.