In recent weeks we have a number of countries take different stances when it comes to cryptocurrencies. India and China, for example, are banning the use of crypto within their borders, citing volatility as one reason, while the likes of El Salvador are pushing to make it acceptable as legal tender. The latest country to weigh in on it is Thailand, which has its sites set on meme coins in particular as part of a larger crypto crackdown.
To that end, the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (TSEC) announced a few days ago that exchanges were to delist meme coins, such as Dogecoin, along with doing the same for NFTs (non-fungible tokens), utility coins and social tokens within the next 30 days.
The TSEC outlined the following parameters for its ban.
Essentially, the Notification prescribes that digital asset exchanges set their listing rules and prohibits the exchanges from providing services related to utility tokens or cryptocurrencies that have any of the following characteristics:
(1) Meme token: having no clear objective or substance or underlying, and whose price running on social media trends;
(2) Fan token: tokenized by the fame of influencers;
(3) Non-fungible token (NFT): a digital creation to declare ownership or grant of right in an object or specific right. It is unique and not interchangeable with digital tokens of the same category and type at the equal amount;
(4) Digital tokens which are utilized in a blockchain transaction and issued by digital asset exchanges or related persons.
While we’d argue that Dogecoin may have started as a meme, its influence has grown significantly and as such could be viewed as being as important a crypto as Bitcoin or Ethereum. That said, it has not been as heavily adopted by exchanges in the same way as the two other coins mentioned have been, which could be why the TSEC is looking to clamp down on coins of that ilk.
As for NFTs, they too have risen to prominence in recent months, but also present a similar level of volatility that some meme coins do.
Thailand may not be banning the use of all crypt within its borders, but it is certainly taken a stricter view on ones that cannot be fully regulated. Exchanges now have until 11th July to comply with the new rule changes.
[Image – Photo by Brock Wegner on Unsplash]
