Will Thailand’s New Crypto Laws Crumble Under Bitcoin’s Pressure?

Thailand is soon to introduce a special law that will regulate the purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies and ICOs in order to avoid market manipulation, money laundering, tax evasion, and multi-level marketing schemes.

Actually, Thailand has a 1+1 offer this month, meaning there is not one but two new laws (one law and one amendment to the existing legislation) in the making.

With growing concerns about scam ICOs and ways of checking the validity of the crypto regulation, the world is looking for either a good framework that will take care of things once and for all or an independent regulator.

While everyone is waiting for a messiah, individual countries are quick to follow the US and design a system that would prevent ICO and cryptocurrency abuse and covert affairs. Thailand is no exception.

Admit it, you thought Thailand was full of relaxed, chilled out people who were predominantly into elephant riding, massages and sunbathing. Quite the opposite: Thailand’s Minister of Finance, Mr. Apisak Tantivorawong has recently very definitively voiced the introduction of Act on Digital Asset Businesses, which will ensure everyone who has any kind of connection to cryptocurrency is registered and confirms to the rules of responsible dealership; and an addition to the Thai Revenue Code which will get cryptocurrency on the government’s radar so that it becomes a tangible asset.

So why such strict measures, you ask? No doubt you know the latest from Russia where cryptocurrency is not an asset, because the government is still working on the framework on it, and therefore the government officials don’t have to include it in their tax declaration.

Controversial, you say? Not according to the Russians. While we are on that note, justice really is served: in the latest court hearing Russian Telegram is forced to hand over its encryption keys, so don’t think anything is going on without the government knowing about it.

Russia may have its own take on things, but in the world, the debate about cryptocurrency and its volatility and possible uses that would hurt the humankind is still heated.

Olga S. Belomyttseva from the Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Economics, National Research Tomsk State University has an elegant and thought-through framework regarding Bitcoin regulation, including regulation of it in Russia as well as Thailand and in the world everywhere. The paper, which is called A Conceptual Framework for the Definition and Regulation of Virtual Currencies, states:

“Currently, no country has created and adopted a legislative basis to regulate the issuance and circulation of virtual currencies and Bitcoins. Grinberg (2011, p. 207)  stated that Bitcoin operates in a legal grey area. The problem still remains unsolved. In fact, there is an acute problem of providing licensing and oversight for activities of the so-called Bitcoin exchanges, their integration into the global financial system, as well as the protection of clients from hackers.”

As we have been pointing out for a considerable length of time, the problem with legislating Bitcoin is the fact that it is essentially untraceable, especially with creations like Amir Taaki’s Dark Wallet. The Thai Securities and Exchange Commision (TSEC) and  Thai Fintech Association (TFA) are relying on a new framework according to which new owners of cryptocurrency will be obliged by law to declare their activities in the same way citizens are expected to file their taxes.

The question is that, while the governments are able to check our accounts to make sure we are not tax-evading, how does one monitor exactly how many Bitcoins have come and gone? The TFA gives a vague answer, from which we are to understand the new laws are still a work in progress. TFA’s chairman, Korn Chatikavanij, states:

“Digital assets are new to everyone, and nobody knows everything, so all parties should be open-minded, learn about them, and set appropriate rules and regulations,”

While Bitcoins are dangerous, they also hold tremendous potential. Olga Belomyttseva goes on to say:

“According to Vigna and Casey (2015, p. 295), decentralized virtual currencies do have a future and can solve some major problems. For instance, they dispel much of the enormous cost that a bank-centric model of payments imposes on the global economy. In addition, virtual currencies could bring millions of people excluded from that payment system into the global economy. Finally, they promise to hold whole classes of middlemen, centralized institutions, and government agencies accountable as never before.”

Ultimately we have always been impressed by Bitcoin’s core values as described by Taaki, which were freedom, integrity, and empowerment.

We are sure that with enough insight and sophistication a new framework will be invented (eventually) that will make it possible to do legitimate, honest business for everyone and allow using blockchain to create a perfect democracy – and to embody a myriad of other beautiful blockchain-related ideas.

Exactly how that will happen is a good question, but we will be here for you all the way, keeping you informed and updated at all times.

Image courtesy of Steemit.

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