Thailand Drops 15% Crypto Tax After Pushback From Public

Thailand has decided to do away with its 15% cryptocurrency capital gains tax for the moment. The plan, announced earlier in the month, received heavy opposition, but it appears that the crypto market will still receive taxation in some form.

The Financial Times reports that Thailand will not go ahead with its 15% cryptocurrency tax plan after the traders in the country voiced strong opposition. The country’s authorities had planned to impose capital gains tax on the asset class, including trading and mining.

Supporters of the crypto market said that high taxation would result in the suffocation of the market. Crypto has become very popular in the country over the past 18 months, particularly among its youth.

As a result, Thailand’s lawmakers have been increasing their regulatory efforts on crypto, having already banned meme coins and NFTs. The Thai SEC has been keen on ensuring that investors receive due protection, though there hasn’t been too much in the way of actual law.

The Thai Finance Ministry first announced its intent to tax the market early in the year, though the idea was discussed as being difficult in practice. For example, it wasn’t clear whether the taxes would be levied on annual filings or whether the government will make the exchanges deduct it at the source.

Thailand’s central bank has also stated it would create new measures to regulate crypto activities for individuals and businesses. To that end, they will release a consultation paper, calling for commentary and a consensus on the limits of crypto activities.

Tax, investor protection, and AML key priorities

Governments are holding taxation, investor, and anti-money laundering as their top priorities in their cryptocurrency regulation agenda. The asset class has grown considerably in terms of adoption in the past two years, thanks to DeFi and NFTs.

Several countries, especially South Korea, have been looking into how to tax the crypto market. South Korea has also delayed its tax plan to 2023, after heavy opposition. It recently added cryptocurrencies to its annual household finance survey.

Alongside these, countries want to ensure that investors are protected against scams, of which the market is seeing an uptick. It’s becoming increasingly clear that most countries are willing to let the crypto market operate but within limits.