Thailand Expands Regulatory Reach: Key Amendments to the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business Now Cover Offshore Operators Serving Thai Residents

Highlights

Thailand’s Enhanced Law Against Tech Crimes

Emergency Decree on Technological Crime Prevention (No. 2), 2025
Effective Date: 13 April 2025

🚨 What’s New?

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Thailand has significantly expanded its digital asset regulatory framework through the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business (No. 2) B.E. 2568 (2025), effective from 13 April 2025. This amendment extends regulatory oversight to digital asset business operators located outside Thailand, provided they engage in solicitation, advertise, or act by means considered as providing their digital asset business activities to investors in Thailand.

This amendment aims to address the regulatory gap whereby foreign digital assets business operators offer services to customers in Thailand without being subject to the licensing requirement under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business B.E. 2561 (2018) (“Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business”). This gap has hindered the prevention and suppression of technology-related crimes, particularly those involving the use of illicitly obtained funds to purchase digital assets through such platforms. Consequently, it has affected the effectiveness of law enforcement, including the investigation and freezing of transactions, as well as the ability to trace and return assets to injured parties.

The amendments include the following:

1. Digital asset business operators under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business cover digital asset business operators located outside Thailand that offer their services to persons in Thailand.

2. Digital asset business operators located outside Thailand shall be deemed to provide services to persons in Thailand, which requires a proper license under the Digital Asset Business Law, if their services involve any of the following characteristics:

1. all or part of the platform or service is available in the Thai language;
2. the business operator registers a domain name with extension “.th”, “.ไทย”, or any other domain name that indicates an association with Thailand or the Kingdom of Thailand, or registers a domain name in the Thai language;
3. the business operator allows customers to make payments in Thai baht or provides an option for payment in Thai baht, or enables the receipt of payments through a deposit account or electronic wallet in Thailand;
4. the applicable terms require that transactions involving the sale and purchase of digital assets must be governed by Thai law, or that any legal proceedings arising from such transactions must be brought before the Thai courts;
5. service fees are paid to search engine service providers for assisting customers residing in Thailand in accessing the services of the business operator;
6. the business operator establishes an office, department, or arranges for personnel to support or assist customers in the Kingdom of Thailand; or
7. other characteristics as specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its notifications.

Failure to comply with this amendment may result in digital asset business operators being in breach of the Emergency Decree and subject to imprisonment, fines, and additional daily penalties. If the digital asset business operator is a juristic person, these sanctions may also apply to its directors, managers, or any other individual responsible for the operations of such juristic person.

We will continue to monitor regulatory developments relating to digital asset businesses, including any further guidance or enforcement actions by the Thai SEC. If you would like to discuss how these changes may affect your operations or compliance obligations, please feel free to contact us.

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For more in-depth information on any of the above, please reach out to Sittiwate Jewsittiprapai at
sittiwate.j@wiseequitylegal.com or Noraseth Ohpanayikool at noraseth.o@wiseequitylegal.com or Teerachai Boonyaratgalin at teerachai.b@wiseequitylegal.com.