Thailand to introduce in-person KYC for crypto exchanges

[Leviathan.007]

Financial regulators in Thailand are preparing to control restrictions on creating new accounts in cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to a report from the Bangkok Post on May 3, the Office for Combating Money Laundering (AMLO) announced that from July, cryptocurrencies must identify new customers in person using a "dip-chip " device to confirm.
While new users can now verify their identity at a cryptocurrency exchange by submitting documents online. Dip-chip devices scan a chip embedded in Thai citizen ID cards and require the physical presence of customers to confirm the process. The new rules may also bar foreign investors from accessing the country's exchange offices because they are unable to obtain a Thai ID card.
Lawmakers seem eager to impose similar regulations on the sale of gold worth more than 100,000 THB (approximately $ 3,200). Some gold traders in the capital, Bangkok, still use dip-chips for authentication.
The tightening comes as cryptocurrencies become increasingly popular in Thailand, with the number of Thai cryptocurrency exchange accounts rising from 160,000 at the end of 2020 to almost 700,000 at the beginning of May. increases. Industry executives have expressed concern that the new rules will stifle the growth of Thailand's cryptocurrency sector. Poramin Insom, founder and CEO of Thailand Cryptocurrency Exchange Satang Corp, said:
“Most digital asset exchanges are still busy preparing their systems to accommodate the growing number of clients as new account applications continue to flow in. However, this growth may be curbed if the application process becomes more complicated.”
The Thai Association of Crypto-Asset Operators is planning to host a discussion on entry regulations in a future consensus that will make it possible to talk to regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and AMLO.
Bitkub, Thailand's largest exchange, which was temporarily suspended by the SEC in January, declined to comment on the new KYC terms. In mid-March, the central bank announced that it had outlawed the Thai Baht.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/thailand-to-introduce-in-person-kyc-for-crypto-exchanges

[tranthidung]

It will trigger a growth of peer-to-peer marketplaces and volume on such marketplaces will increase. In 2020, the news in India results in a dramatic growth of peer-to-peer trading volume in the nation.

You can check the stats on UsefulTulips.org (combined chart for trading volume from Paxful and LocalBitcoins)

India now is the second biggest market in Asia, just a little bit behind China. The next three nations are Philippine, Indonesia and Thailand. It is not easy for Thailand to take over the third position of Philippine but it is possible to take over Indonesia.

[joniboini]

If you want to share news, can you at least share your own analysis and not a word-for-word copy/paraphrase of the original text? I see no point in copying the article again. OP, you should already know that this practice is very similar to those spammers.

[DdmrDdmr]

I don’t see how that is going to work out smoothly. I mean as of a few months ago, there were 13 licensed cryptocurrency service providers (not all are Exchanges). If KYC requires physical presence, either all the Exchanges will need to provide KYC offices around the territory, or there are some already existing entities that could perform that service for the Exchanges (besides their usual business). Perhaps someone local can provide there insight into this question.

[Ziskinberg]

We are probably going to a stricter law, the current procedure is so lax, in some exchanges like Binance, you can even start to trade without KYC up to their daily limit which is already huge. I believe, sooner or later, we will follow the strict procedure KYC banks have been implementing.

This county is just trying to ensure that KYC is properly followed, and no one can fake KYC by using false information or using other people's identity.

[avikz]

Be prepared! Every other government will slowly follow the same rule of KYC even if they grant licenses to the crypto exchanges to operate from their country. The anonymity that cryptocurrency grants to its users, is actually seen as a challenge by the governments around the world. So slowly they will try to impose stricter kyc rules to the crypto exchanges.

The good part is that, such kind of regulations will give rise to the peer to peer exchanges operating from crypto friendly nations.

[Husires]

The compliance of exchange platforms with such laws would be good because it would become difficult to set up many accounts for money laundering.
Why not be strict in the licenses to establish the platforms, because most scam activities come from them and the strictness in customer systems comes.
The change will not be great, so if you are ready to do KYC you will not object to do in-person KYC.

[Theb]

Wouldn't be a surprised at all to see countries being strict about their crypto industry. With them having this kind of dip-chip model it just gives their government more assurance that only real people are submitting their KYC and people will have a hard time fabricating fake identities when they need to submit their KYC documents in-person. A lot of people may call it crazy but some countries don't even allow online KYC submission for opening stock market accounts or other financial markets so I think it is safe to say that they are just applying or covering everything for AML compliance.

[20kevin20]

Be prepared! Every other government will slowly follow the same rule of KYC even if they grant licenses to the crypto exchanges to operate from their country. The anonymity that cryptocurrency grants to its users, is actually seen as a challenge by the governments around the world. So slowly they will try to impose stricter kyc rules to the crypto exchanges.

The good part is that, such kind of regulations will give rise to the peer to peer exchanges operating from crypto friendly nations.

This. Decentralization will triumph under authoritarian ruling, especially when we have solutions such as Tor and even bridges to avoid governments that are pushing authoritarian behavior. P2P exchanges and atomic swaps will make everything so much better!

[YOSHIE]

I was wrongly thinking about crypto exchanges in Thailand, my assumption was that KYC was already from the beginning of the formation of exchanges in Thailand, it turned out to be slow.

In my personal opinion, KYC is something that must be mandatory for exchange sites in Thailand. KYC is a security for crypto users themselves to avoid unwanted things, because it is directly related to withdrawals and deposits made by crypto users, something that is normal and must be applied to every crypto exchange in Thailand.
In my opinion it is an absolute policy and must be implemented.

[Hydrogen]

the Office for Combating Money Laundering (AMLO) announced that from July, cryptocurrencies must identify new customers in person using a "dip-chip " device to confirm.

AFAIK personal financial data on those chips can be scanned and replicated by someone in close physical proximity.

Carrying a credit card with a chip in a public place like a train or bus. Makes it easy for thieves and cybercriminals who frequent those areas with scanners to clone your data the way SIM cards and other info is cloned.

Good basic OPSEC (operational security) is to carry those cards/chips inside a wallet or bag that blocks RFID signals. To prevent them from being cloned and prevent data from being stolen.

The same could apply to RFID chips implanted beneath the skin. Wearing a glove or sleeves that block RFID signals can prevent thieves from stealing crucial data.

[stomachgrowls]

Be prepared! Every other government will slowly follow the same rule of KYC even if they grant licenses to the crypto exchanges to operate from their country. The anonymity that cryptocurrency grants to its users, is actually seen as a challenge by the governments around the world. So slowly they will try to impose stricter kyc rules to the crypto exchanges.

The good part is that, such kind of regulations will give rise to the peer to peer exchanges operating from crypto friendly nations.

We are already seeing volumes and its no surprised that they would really be going into this kind of extent of regulation where it becomes more stricter because they are requiring person appearance.

Honestly, this is one of the things where government could do where they do target out those exchangers which are heavily regulated and ask out for some new rules and requirements into its users.

If they do saw influx numbers of people who had been dealing with cryptocurrency then that would really be raising some alerts on the government.Theyre trying to suppress it down via means of these
complicated and more harder regulations.

Im expecting for other government to do same as well in upcoming years.

[magneto]

Wow. The extent that draconian regulations have gone in certain countries is nothing short of amazing (and disgusting).

In-person KYC is just a euphemism for a soft ban on crypto exchanges. The cumbersome and bureaucratic processes are set up for the sole purpose of oppressing those who want to access cryptos.

There must be a push back from the cryptocurrency community. Otherwise, they will continue to do this until there is no way for retail investors to access cryptocurrencies by traditional means anymore.