Thailand SEC Moves to Tighten ICO Rules With Investor Testing Mandates
Thailand's securities regulator is seeking public input on proposed rules to ease knowledge testing for crypto investors while enforcing comprehensive suitability assessments. The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced public hearings on regulations for initial coin offerings (ICOs), allowing investors who have previously passed knowledge tests to bypass repeated assessments. Current rules require knowledge tests every three months for ICO investments. Proposed changes include a requirement for non-institutional investors to pass a knowledge test unless previously completed, and ICO portals must conduct comprehensive suitability tests to ensure investors understand risks. These assessments would be updated every two years instead of quarterly. Professional investors would remain exempt from testing. Comments on the proposal are due by August 1. The SEC is also consulting on allowing exchanges to list self-issued tokens and is exploring pilot programs for crypto tourism payments and retail access to Bitcoin ETFs.
