Thai SEC Toughens Crypto Ad Regulations Amid Broader Market Downturn

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC Thailand) has asked cryptocurrency companies operating in the country to include clear and visible warnings about the risks associated with virtual tokens and crypto investments.

SEC Guideline on Crypto Ads

In an email statement from last week, the capital market regulator asked companies to abstain from giving false and misleading information in their ads. They were also asked to provide information on advertising terms to the SEC. The new rules should be complied with within 30 days, and old ads that don’t conform should be removed.

“Operators must give details of ads and spending including the use of influencers and bloggers to the SEC including terms and time frame,” the SEC said.

The new SEC crypto ad guidelines prohibit false, misleading, and exaggerated claims and provide for the ads to carry clear and easily visible warnings about risks. Crypto firms have been asked to limit advertising to official platforms such as their websites and present a balanced picture by mentioning both positive and negative aspects the digital assets.

Action Against Zipmex and Bitkub 

On Wednesday, the SEC fined Zipmex Thailand 1.92 million baht (approx. $52,344) for suddenly suspending trading on its platform without following the norms and stopping deposits and withdrawals.

Early this week, the agency also fined Thailand’s largest crypto trading platform’s CTO $200,000 for insider trading. The CTO, Samret Wajanasathian, made large purchases of Bitkub’s native coin KUB between September and November 2021 after finding out that Siam Commercial Bank (SCBX) is negotiating a takeover deal of the digital asset exchange.

On Sunday, SCBX announced that it won’t go ahead with its planned $500-million takeover of Bitkub due to these problems.

Stricter Ad Norms in Spain, UK

The SEC’s tough stance on crypto advertising comes in the wake of a broader market downturn that saw $2 trillion of the market cap evaporate in about six months. Thailand is the latest in a growing list of countries that have made their crypto advertising policy more stringent.

Spain’s National Securities Market Commission in January introduced a new set of guidelines for crypto advertising. It said crypto firms should “ensure that the advertising of the products offers true, understandable, and non-misleading content, and includes a prominent warning of the associated risks.”

Early this month, the UK advertising watchdog banned two ads of Arsenal’s fan token $AFC for failing to “illustrate the risks of crypto investments” and trivializing “serious and potentially costly financial decision.”