Thailand struggles with crypto like it struggled with the Baht
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission is thinking of revamping its licensing legislation starting in 2020 due to the inefficiency of the current system. According to a local news outlet, Bankok Post, there have been just 5 applications on a local SEC license in the past year, only two of which have officially launched.
This indicates that the SEC is either not looking into its licensing criteria, or does not set detailed examples on how an ICO or any other crypto project needs to develop in the future. Some of these companies that received the license, were offering services to Thai clients without even launching officially. This caused quite a lot of missed opportunities for Thai officials to collect taxes and thus create a more healthy environment for developing the technology.
It’s a far-fetched argument that Thailand has one of the best opportunities to become a crypto travel destination, considering just how many people it services on a yearly basis. The country’s crypto affiliation has the potential of attracting crypto tourists from countries like Mainland China, Australia, Japan and even South Korea. Naturally, investors from those countries tend to be a bit on the bulky side, meaning that they’re just looking for liquidity sources for their assets as they continue to depreciate.
By clarifying the legislation, the SEC hopes that crypto are adopted in the country’s tourism industry, thus making Thailand into a Bitcoin ATM. Every tourist would be able to get almost every service through BTC or other recognized cryptocurrencies, while the businesses themselves would rely on local crypto exchanges to cash out their revenues. This would not only add more tourism to the country but also encourage the trading volume of the Baht, which has always been an issue.
Thailand was and is struggling with the Baht
The Baht is Thailand’s official currency, which was pegged to the United States dollar not too long ago. Due to the fact that the US economy was increasing much faster compared to Thailand’s, it was simply impossible to keep the exchange rate as it was. According to economists, the amount of money being poured into maintaining the status quo would bankrupt the country within just a few years.
Finally, in 1997 the Baht became free-floating and depreciated immediately. It was classified as one of the worst times for local brokerages considering just how much incentive they had to give speculators to even consider investing in the Thai Baht.
Foreign brokerages had a lot more leverage in those terms, considering that serious campaigns were being conducted to convince investors about the future rebound of the Baht. Older versions of the modern XM no deposit bonus immediately became extremely popular in the West as traders were getting either loans or allowances from their brokerages as an actual gamble that the Baht was going to surge.
Unfortunately, the currency has been doing terrible ever since. But considering that the tourism industry stepped in as a savior, it may have been for the best.
The SEC is trying to prevent a similar situation
Thailand’s SEC is trying to prevent a similar situation by trying to diversify into cryptocurrencies and making Thailand a serious crypto destination. Although there’s more than enough FDI coming into the country’s tourism industry, diversification is extremely important.
Considering that most of the world will be switching to the blockchain in the next decade or so, making the necessary adjustments for a crypto-friendly environment is paramount at the moment.
Without having at least half a dozen exchanges stationed in Bankok for local businesses to immediately exchange crypto to fiat currencies could prove disastrous as we’ve seen the BTC’s downfall over the last few days.
