Five unlicensed businesses have been raided by Thai police As part of an overall crackdown against illicit crypto-related activity in Thailand, 11 employees were arrested by firms.
The Economic Crime Suppression Division’s (ECD) officers received search warrants for five businesses operating in Nakhon pathom, Samut Sakhon or Bangkok.
The ECD Commander Thatphum Jaruprat stated that among the 11 individuals arrested, there were a mixture of senior executives and lower-level employees. Six computers and other proofs have also been seized by police.
The ECD conducted an investigation and determined that those arrested were illegally running e-money companies with combined turnovers of about one billion Baht or approximately $29.3 Million.
The firms raided allegedly served as intermediaries between local investors and overseas investment companies. Customers were required to pay money via eWallets to complete cross-border transactions.
Thailand has strict regulations for forex-based online money. The Payment System Act 2017 mandates that all businesses in this field register and obtain a license.
The ECD claims that the failure of the companies to register creates a money-laundering risk and damages the economy because it allows capital to leave.
It’s not for the first year in a row that the authorities have crackeddown on crypto crime.
Thailand's crypto crackdown
January saw Thailand's Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau propose a ban on Polymarket, arguing that the crypto-based prediction marketplace creates “economic and social risks.”
The Thai and Chinese police frozen cryptocurrencies valued at around $2,5 million last month after two Chinese were arrested and later accused of fraud and human trafficking.
Binance TH, a cryptocurrency exchange, reported just today that Thailand had seen one the highest increases of investment damages and complaints in the entire world, receiving more than 1,000 police requests to provide data over the last 3 years.
Although such acts may lead one to believe that Thailand has cracked down on cryptos, Singaporean intergovernmental blockchain adviser Anndy Lian claims that Thai officials are focusing mainly on the bad actors.
"You’ve got the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) working with folks like Binance to bust pig butchering scams—those nasty romance-investment hybrids that have ripped off millions,” he told Decrypt.
Lian noted that one particular operation, named Trust No One, resulted in numerous high-profile arrests and the seizure of substantial sums, while subsequent operation The Purge did something similar last year.
“There were also raids in Chachoengsao, Surat Thani and other places where people stole electricity for their mining equipment.” Lian added. “This is another indication that they are keeping a close eye on any shady activities in the crypto world.”
Lian reiterated that Thai police are zeroing in on fraudsters, extortionists and thieves much more than the crypto space more generally, although it also has a zero-tolerance policy for platforms that do not register with the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission.
“He explained that the SEC has also been trying to shut down unlicensed exchanges, as they did last year with Bybit. “But this is more of a regulation than a shutdown,” he said.
Thailand and crypto
But in general, the cryptocurrency industry in Thailand is growing healthily: the Southeast Asian nation ranked 16th in Chainalysis’ 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index, while it saw just over $50 billion in cryptocurrency value received between July 2023 and July 2024.
Thailand’s SEC has also been busy updating its rules surrounding cryptocurrency investment for mutual and private funds, in a bid to attract more legitimate investment in the space.
“Plus, with the SEC now eyeballing spot Bitcoin ETFs and stablecoins, it seems like they’re trying to figure out how to manage it, not kill it,” says Lian, referring to the SEC’s January announcement that it may begin permitting local Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Such moves mean that Thailand sits somewhere in the middle of Southeast Asian jurisdictions when it comes to crypto regulations, not quite as liberal as Singapore but “not a total lockdown like China,” according to Lian.