Detailed overview
Thailand: Digital Asset Business Licensing under the Emergency Decree
Regulators
Thailand’s digital asset regime is administered principally by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Minister of Finance. The Bank of Thailand is relevant for legal tender, payment systems, commercial bank groups, e-money, CBDC and stablecoins. The Anti-Money Laundering Office is relevant for AML, CFT, customer due diligence and transaction reporting. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is relevant to website or application blocking of unlicensed foreign digital asset platforms under the technological-crime framework.
Legal framework
Thailand regulates digital asset businesses under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561, as amended by the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses No. 2 B.E. 2568.
The regime is a licensing regime. A person conducting a regulated digital asset business must obtain a licence from the Minister of Finance upon the recommendation of the SEC.
The SEC publishes unofficial English translations of the Emergency Decrees, but the Thai text is controlling.
Digital assets
A digital asset is cryptocurrency or a digital token.
A cryptocurrency is an electronic data unit created on an electronic system or network for use as a medium of exchange for goods, services, rights, or exchange between digital assets.
A digital token is an electronic data unit created on an electronic system or network to specify a person’s right to participate in an investment project or business, or to specify a right to acquire specific goods, services or other specific rights under an agreement between issuer and holder.
Securities under the securities and exchange law are not treated as cryptocurrency or digital tokens under the Digital Asset Decree. Tokenised shares, debentures, derivatives, fund units or other securities-like products require separate securities-law analysis.
Licensable activities
Thailand currently supervises six categories of digital asset business operators.
These are digital asset exchange, digital asset broker, digital asset dealer, digital asset fund manager, digital asset advisory service provider and digital asset custodial wallet provider.
A digital asset exchange is a centre or network established for trading or exchanging digital assets by matching orders, arranging counterparties, or providing a system that facilitates agreement or order matching.
A digital asset broker provides or holds itself out as available to provide brokerage or agency services for another person’s trading or exchange of digital assets for a fee or other remuneration.
A digital asset dealer provides or holds itself out as available to trade or exchange digital assets for its own account outside a digital asset exchange.
A fund manager, advisory service provider or custodial wallet provider can also require a licence where the business conducts those regulated activities.
A pure technology provider or non-custodial software tool requires separate analysis. The decisive question is whether the provider actually operates an exchange, acts as broker, deals as principal, advises, manages assets, holds or controls client assets, controls keys or wallets, or facilitates customer transfers.
Licensing requirement
A digital asset business operator must obtain a licence from the Minister of Finance upon SEC recommendation before carrying on regulated business.
Unlicensed operation is a criminal offence. A person operating a digital asset business without a licence may be subject to imprisonment for two to five years, a fine of THB 200,000 to THB 500,000, and a further daily fine of up to THB 10,000 while the contravention continues.
The application process and fees are set in ministerial and SEC rules. Before filing, the applicant should verify the current fee schedule, category-specific conditions, capital requirements, operational readiness requirements and SEC application manuals.
Offshore platforms
Thailand’s 2025 amendment extends the licensing perimeter to certain offshore operators.
A digital asset business operator includes an operator outside Thailand that provides services to persons in Thailand, unless the service is one specified by the SEC as excluded.
An offshore operator may be deemed to provide services to persons in Thailand where any of the following characteristics are present: Thai-language display, use of a “.th” or “.ไทย” domain or another domain signifying Thailand, payment in Thai baht, payment through Thai bank or e-money accounts, Thai law or Thai court terms, payment to search-engine providers to facilitate Thai users’ access, establishment of Thai office, Thai entity or Thai support personnel, or other SEC-specified characteristics.
An offshore platform serving Thai users should therefore assess Thai licensing even if the entity, servers and custody infrastructure are outside Thailand.
Enforcement and blocking
Thailand has begun active enforcement against unlicensed foreign digital asset platforms.
SEC materials state that MDES can restrict access to unlicensed digital asset trading platforms under the technological-crime framework. SEC has filed criminal complaints against several foreign platforms for alleged unlicensed digital asset trading platform services and has coordinated access blocking.
A Thailand-facing platform should therefore consider the risk of criminal complaint, investor alert listing, access blocking and customer asset disruption where it operates without the required Thai licence.
Digital token offerings
Public offerings of digital tokens are regulated separately from digital asset business operator licensing.
A digital token issuer that wishes to offer newly issued digital tokens to the public must be a limited company or public limited company. It must obtain approval from the SEC Office and file a registration statement and draft prospectus.
A public offering may be made only after the registration statement and draft prospectus have become effective. The offering must be made through an SEC-approved ICO portal unless an exemption applies.
An ICO portal is an electronic system that facilitates offerings of newly issued digital tokens. Its duties include due diligence on token characteristics, issuer qualifications and completeness and accuracy of the filing, draft prospectus and related disclosures.
A token issuer, launchpad, token sale platform or issuer-support service should analyze whether SEC approval, filing, prospectus, ICO portal involvement or an exemption is required.
Custody and wallets
Digital asset custody and wallet/key control are regulated.
A digital asset business operator that provides custody of clients’ digital assets must maintain a digital wallet management system to ensure efficient custody of digital assets and keys and safety of client assets.
Required controls include risk management policies, wallet and key management policies, procedures for wallet design and development, secure key creation and access, contingency plans, testing, responsible persons, incident reporting, security audit and digital forensic investigation for material custody-system incidents.
A hosted wallet, exchange wallet, MPC provider, private-key control service or omnibus wallet model should be assessed as potential custodial wallet activity.
SEC rules also provide an exclusion where a digital asset issuer provides custody only for its own issued digital asset on behalf of its clients. This exclusion should be applied narrowly and should not be assumed to cover third-party custody, multi-asset custody or exchange wallet services.
Means of payment
Digital assets are not legal tender in Thailand.
BOT states that payment with digital assets for goods or services is barter between the payer and receiver and that both parties accept the risks. BOT does not support the use of digital assets as means of payment for goods and services.
SEC rules prohibit digital asset business operators from supporting use of digital assets as means of payment for goods or services. Current SEC materials state that the prohibition now covers all current types of digital asset business operators, including custodial wallet providers.
There is a limited route for digital asset business operators approved by BOT to participate in the BOT Programmable Payment Sandbox. Outside that sandbox or another applicable approval, merchant payment, checkout, payment gateway, automatic conversion, card-like and settlement products should be treated as high-risk.
Stablecoins
Stablecoins require separate SEC and BOT analysis.
BOT states that Baht-backed stablecoins pegged to the Baht and intended for use as means of payment may be classified as e-money under the Payment Systems Act 2017. Providers wishing to provide services involving Baht-backed stablecoins must consult BOT before beginning operations.
BOT has also stated that activity involving the THT Baht-denominated stablecoin was illegal under the Currency Act because creation, issuance, usage or circulation of a material or token for money violates that Act.
Foreign-currency-backed, asset-backed and algorithmic stablecoins require product-specific review. Listing or accepting USDT or USDC under SEC digital asset rules does not mean that issuing or operating a Baht-backed stablecoin is permitted.
USDT and USDC
SEC added USDC and USDT to the list of cryptocurrencies eligible for use in the ICO process, for ICO portals to receive in transactions, and for digital asset exchanges to use as base trading pairs. The amendments took effect on 16 March 2025.
This is a trading and transaction-list change. It is not a general authorization to issue Baht-backed stablecoins or to operate payment services.
AML and CFT
Digital asset business operators and ICO portals are financial institutions under Thailand’s AML law.
They must comply with AML obligations including customer identification, customer due diligence, risk management, transaction reporting, suspicious transaction reporting, record retention, staff controls and AMLO reporting requirements.
The AML Act requires financial institutions to report specified cash transactions, property transactions and suspicious transactions. Suspicious transaction reporting applies regardless of whether the transaction meets the ordinary cash or property thresholds.
AMLO publishes CDD guidance specifically for digital asset business operators and digital token portal service providers.
A Thailand-licensed operator should maintain KYC, beneficial-owner identification, risk scoring, source-of-funds controls, sanctions and high-risk screening, transaction monitoring, suspicious transaction escalation, wallet-risk controls, record retention and AMLO reporting procedures.
Banking and payment rails
Digital asset businesses using Thai banks, payment accounts, e-money accounts, payment gateways, merchant settlement or bank group partners require separate BOT analysis.
BOT maintains rules and policy materials for commercial banks’ financial business groups undertaking digital asset-related businesses and transactions. Bank or payment access is not equivalent to SEC licensing and does not remove the need for SEC, BOT, AMLO and product-specific analysis.
Sandbox
Thailand has a Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox.
Eligible services include digital asset exchange, digital asset broker, digital asset dealer, digital asset fund manager, digital asset advisor and digital asset custodial wallet provider.
The SEC considers participant readiness, including capital adequacy, work systems and management structure. Sandbox participation is product-specific and does not automatically authorize commercial-scale services outside the sandbox.
Regulatory outlook
Thailand is an active digital asset licensing jurisdiction.
The most important current developments are the 2025 extension of the regime to offshore platforms serving persons in Thailand, access blocking of unlicensed foreign platforms, MOP restrictions across all current business operator types, custody and wallet/key controls, sandbox development, and stablecoin scrutiny by BOT.
New entrants should map token classification, Thai-user nexus, licence category, custody model, ICO route, stablecoin and payment treatment, AML controls, bank and payment rails, and tax consequences before launching.