Digital money trading is illegitimate in Thailand

BANGKOK, January 9 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) insists that it is illegitimate for any trading of Bitcoin or other digital money in the country. Chantavarn Sucharitakul, BOT Assistant Governor for Corporate Strategy and Relations Group​, maintained on January 8 that digital money, including Bitcoin, is not a legal medium of exchange in Thailand and any trading of the digital money is, thus, illegimate in the country. In response to an announcement by Phillip Securities (Thailand) Public Company Limited that it has launched a service in the country on future trading of Bitcoin based on the the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in the United States, the BOT assistant governor said the central bank is checking whether the Bitcoin service has been legally approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or not. The BOT assistant governor cautioned, however, that the prices of digital commodity in future markets are highly fluctuating and investors should, thus, beware of the risk. Meanwhile, Kesara Manchusree, President of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), told journalists that it is possible if the Bitcoin future trading in the country is based on the CME and the CBOE in the United States, where trading of Bitcoin is legal, but investors need to beware of the risk. The Thai SEC issued a statement, in the meantime, that the CME and the CBOE are legally supervised by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (US CFTC), which is a member and regulated by the standardized International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and Thai securities companies can launch a future trading service based on the two US future markets. However, the SEC also warned investors to beware of the highly-fluctuating prices of Bitcoin and to be prepared for the high risk, urging Thai securities companies to provide timely and proper information to their clients, taking all risk factors and their clients' financial status into careful consideration. (TNA)