Thailand Bans Meme Coins, Fan Tokens, NFTs From Trading on Crypto Exchanges

Dogecoin Not Good Enough For Thailand, Country Bans All “Meme” Coins, NFTs

Thailand Bans Meme Coins, Fan Tokens, NFTs From Trading on Crypto Exchanges

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has enacted new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country. Certain types of cryptocurrencies, including meme coins, fan coins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are prohibited to trade on crypto exchanges.

Thailand Sets New Rules for Crypto Exchanges, Banning Certain Types of Cryptocurrencies

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday that its board of directors has approved new rules governing cryptocurrency exchanges. Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol stated that the board meeting held on June 9 had passed a resolution approving the SEC Notification No. Kor Thor. 18/2564, which sets forth the rules.

Digital asset exchanges are prohibited from “providing services related to utility tokens or cryptocurrencies that have any of the following characteristics,” the SEC notice details:

(1) Meme token: having no clear objective or substance or underlying, and whose price running on social media trends; (2) Fan token: tokenized by the fame of influencers; (3) Non-fungible token (NFT).

The prohibition also includes “Digital tokens which are utilized in a blockchain transaction and issued by digital asset exchanges or related persons.”

Although, the SEC did not mention the name of any specific coins, meme cryptocurrencies, like dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu coin (SHIB), are likely affected.

Crypto exchanges must also set a requirement “to be imposed in the event that digital tokens issued by their own exchange or related persons are listed on the exchange.” Token issuers failing to comply with their white papers and relevant rules risk having their tokens delisted from the exchange, the regulator warned.

According to the SEC notice, “This new regulatory guideline aims to enhance protection of digital asset traders’ interest.” It adds:

The exchanges are required to comply and revise their listing rules in accordance with the Notification within 30 days from the effective date thereof.

The Thai SEC also noted that “After publication in the Government Gazette, the Notification has become effective from 11 June 2021 onwards without retrospective effect.”

Thailand has banned all meme tokens, fan tokens, exchange tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement Friday.

What Happened: The Thai SEC didn’t specifically mention the high-profile cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE), which is expected to fall under the category of meme tokens, CoinDesk, which first reported the news, noted.

Dogecoin, created as a joke in late 2013, is up 5456% in 2021, as of press time — the highest among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The meme coin has found a major backer in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.

The Thai regulator described meme cryptocurrencies as ones whose price is primarily driven by social indicators and have no clear objective or substance on their own.

Fan tokens representing ownership of voting rights or access to club-specific rewards and services are also now banned in Thailand, CoinDesk noted. An exception would be fan tokens used for goods and services like VIP experiences.

NFTs, another hot trend of 2021, also stand banned, alongside cryptocurrencies issued by exchange desks like Binance, Uniswap, and FTX for on-platform benefits.

Price Action: Dogecoin traded 1.7% lower at $0.3149 at press time on Sunday.

What do you think about Thailand banning these cryptocurrencies from trading on crypto exchanges? Let us know in the comments section below.