Last Thursday during his speech on Bloomberg ASEAN Business Summit, Dr. Veerathai Santiprabhob, the Bank of Thailand’s Governor, underlined that the country is reviewing new technologies, including blockchain applications.
These technologies are identified as KYC (know your customer) applications of biometrics, Credit scoring goals for machine learning and for international cross-border payments, supply chain, and document authentication.
Dr. Santiprabhob said: “Adoption of modern technologies like biometrics and blockchains can help safeguard financial information and reduce the number and magnitude of fraudulent activities”.
Moreover, the Bank of Thailand offered New Payment Systems Act to adopt recent digital atmosphere and keep up with innovations; system became active in April. This new law covers all previous regulations and allows the bank to oversee all kinds of payments, traditional or newly innovated.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- Thailand is working on new regulations and systems to stay updated and adapt blockchain payments by encouraging innovation. 1. Thailand also aims a financial system that will unlock Thailand’s economic potential, ensure sustainable economic growth, and improve the well-being of the Thai nation.
Separately, an independent entity, The Thailand Bond Market Association (TBMA) is also working towards the goal of developing a token which is expected to optimize corporate bond settlements. Thai SEC has allowed TBMA to start working on a private blockchain for it’s registered issuers and investors.
Earlier in June, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has announced a set of new legal regulations for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICO).
As things stand, of the 50 ICO projects in the country, only 5 will meet the new registration requirements set out by the regulator. To issue tokens, companies must meet a number of criteria established by the SEC.