The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC Thailand) has required cryptocurrency companies operating in the country to issue clear and conspicuous warnings about the risks associated with tokens and cryptocurrency investments.
In an emailed statement from last week, the capital markets regulator asked companies to avoid including false and misleading information in their ads. They are also required to provide information on advertising terms to the SEC. New rules must be followed and old ads that don’t comply will be removed.
The SEC said: “Regulators must provide details of advertising and spending including the use of influencers and bloggers to the SEC”
The SEC’s new cryptocurrency advertising guidelines prohibit false statements, are misleading and exaggerated, and provide clear and visible warnings about risks. Cryptocurrency companies have been asked to restrict advertising on official platforms such as their websites and mention both the positive and negative aspects of digital assets.
On Wednesday, the SEC fined Zipmex Thailand 1.92 million baht (about $52,344) for abruptly suspending trading on its platform without following standards.
Earlier this week, the agency also fined the CTO of Thailand’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform $200,000 for insider trading. CTO Samret Wajanasathian bought a large amount of Bitkub’s KUB native coin between September and November 2021 after discovering that Siam Commercial Bank (SCBX) was negotiating a deal to take over the exchange.
The SEC’s tough stance on cryptocurrency advertising comes amid a broader market downturn that has caused $2 trillion in Market Cap to evaporate in about six months. Thailand is the latest in a list of countries that have implemented a stricter cryptocurrency advertising policy.
