Concerns regarding a potential rise in crypto crime bring together experts to discuss these matters in a joint seminar with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The executive director of the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ), Kittipong Kittayarak, speaking at the “Advancing the Economy and Combating Crime in the Digital Age: Cryptocurrency and Crime” seminar, claimed to be aware that the crypto crime in Thailand was not currently a serious issue.
“In Thailand, there are very few criminal cases related to cryptocurrencies yet the number of cases is expected to rise.”
However, in light of the alleged increase of the crypto in criminal affairs, the director of TIJ claimed that they were ill-equipped to fight crypto crimes since they have a shortage of personnel and necessary equipment, since the more ‘complex’ the technologies used in felonies are, the more difficult they are to crack.
According to UNODC deputy regional executive Julien Garsany, cyber-related crime is quite a serious matter in Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, counting up to 6 billion cases a year. It is estimated that illegal transactions bought gangs up to $3 billion, whilst hitting the Thai economy with $4.5 billion worth of losses.
These concerns regarding crypto crime come at a time when Thailand is among the top countries that look most favorably on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
- Despite the crypto situation in Thailand is an agreeable one, with crypto crime being relatively low, these kinds of statements can spark unwanted negative attention to crypto.
- Overall Thailand has a good ecology for crypto, blockchain, and ICOs, even a national crypto is being developed.