Bitcoin Forum

Thailand's government wants to regulate the nascent Crypto market, and tax its investors to prevent the expanding sector from being used for money laundering, tax evasion, and other criminal activities.

This action is taken by Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong after a weekly cabinet meeting on Mar. 27.

With the new law regulating Cryptocurrencies and tokens, investors will have to pay 7% VAT on all transactions made with digit currencies and a 15% on the return profit.

Earlier, the Central Bank of Thailand has banned domestic banks from investing in and trading digit currency, which caused insecurity for local investors.

Korn Chatikavanij - former Finance Minister and president of the Thai Fintech Association (TFA) - shared that he is not surprised by the cautious steps taken by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. "But they have to be cautious not to allow their conservative instincts to result in draconian regulations," Korn told the Nikkei Asian Review.

Companies operating in the field of Cryptocurrency in Thailand are also facing many challenges, and Thai entrepreneurs that tend to have an ICO are more likely to choose Singapore to register their startups.

Six.network, a decentralized financial services infrastructure of a Thai-Korean joint venture, is one example. The company is registered in Singapore and recently announced an ICO in Bangkok to raise $ 44 million on March 27.

Natasha Pungcharoenpong, co-founder of Six.network, said that his company is cooperating with the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)to avoid any glitches. "The company has already approached the office to constantly clarify the operation to ensure transparency”, he told attendees at the ICO launch event at a Bangkok.

However, everything is still in the plan. In the meantime, Thai investors should be prepared by means before this regulation plan is officially adopted.

VCXCoin (https://vcxcoin.com/)

This is expected to happen. After the surge of cryptocurrencies, Thailand's decision is good.
There are other countries that are looking to crypto's now but they are only seeing the bad side.
But this is a good adoption and it only means that Thailand is supporting cryptocurrencies.

I think more and more countries are going to tax encrypted money markets.
Because the market is getting bigger, countries will surely tax the market after they recognise it.

Most of the countries will do the same thing. Given that Thailand is part of South East Asian region, I'm very confident that Crypto will be on mainstream media to help the economy growth.

That is a good move from them, and show us one thing. They accept the crypto-currency too. They admit bitcoin existence, it may make you lose some of your total profit but there is an opening door that they are welcomimg crypto currency and ICO.
Think positively. Maybe in the future, there is an exchange site of Bath (Thailand fiat currency) to bitcoin.

So you mean this move of the governments right now is good for cryptocurrency?

Well, I think this is not a bad move from the Thai Governments.
It seems they support cryptocurrency, but the demand the tax for crypto users. It's still fair for me. I hope other South Asian countries following that policy.

I really agree on cryptocurrency taxes payments to governments. Because the real solution of economic problem is digital cryptocurrency like bitcoin. If cryptocurrency would have a total implementation of taxes payments to governments I'm pretty much sure that our economic problem would surely disappear. And it would also develop and increase the total adaptations of cryptocurrencies, because of the total trust of people when government involve and support on the total operations of cryptocurrencies.

In reality there are many more countries who supports the bitcoin or crypto currencies legally as was published in the G20 summit meetings. There were almost 15 countries who do recognise the bitcoin in full legal way only the thing they lack for it is proper law. So whether it is all about the Thailand accepting the bitcoin or other countries like this, bitcoin always have great adoption option and in the mean time we will have to face many problems, FUD bans and much more.

Thailand however is tourist country, or recognised one and getting crypto currencies adopted in such country would be always thoughtful and it can help grow the tourist excitement. However, we do need bigger countries to spread word like this to see some movement in the market.

I agree with taxation on Crypto to avoid all the tax evasion and money laundering, but paying a value added tax on every transaction is a bit much., That for me is biting the biscuit really and might actually put a lot of people off. I think a capital gains tax on an amount you declare and take out each year is good enough to be honest. I wouldn't over regulate this market, otherwise that will kill it and not allow it to flourish. We need to find a happy medium between taxation and also freedom to acquire some wealth, because the RICH are the ones that do the biggest tax evasion and get the biggest tax cuts.

If the objective of Thailand's Government was simply to prevent the expanding sector from being used to money laundering, tax evasion and criminal activities then I would agree that investors should pay VAT and fees for Crypto Trades. Other countries like USA, China, and Korea have already taken actions regarding the increasing number of investment scams, misleading acts, fraud, and other intolerable deeds using cryptocurrencies. These actions if I'm not mistaken occur early this year (2018). Which I consider one of the reasons why the Market bleeds so badly. These actions should be a great help for the development of cryptocurrencies.

Yes, further regulation will provide more help to the encryption market, for now. Only mature markets can usher in a better development.

I totally agree with this. We should not be afraid of regulations, this only mean that crypto is being recognized and is a cue for its adoption in the long run. Cryptocurrency is gaining fame across the globe, and many are looking at it for potential source of income.