Thailand has enacted stricter regulations that require cryptocurrency businesses to adequately disclose the investment risks in their advertisements. The new rules forbid companies in the sector from making false or exaggerated claims.
According to Bloomberg and Reuters, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved new guidelines for cryptocurrency advertisements. The modifications, according to a statement issued on Thursday, follow the SEC’s discovery that some advertisements either failed to mention the dangers associated with cryptocurrencies or contained only positive information.
The relevant risks for investors must now be made crystal clear in the advertisements of cryptocurrency companies in Thailand, and the warnings must be obvious. They ought to discuss both the positive and negative aspects of the anticipated returns in a balanced manner. There must be no false, exaggerated, or misleading claims in the advertisements.
Thai crypto businesses, which have been advertising heavily through digital media and billboards, must now limit the promotion to official channels such as their own websites. They will also have to provide regulators with information about the advertising terms. The securities watchdog explained in the announcement:
Operators must give details of ads and spending, including the use of influencers and bloggers to the SEC, including terms and time frame.
Thai businesses using cryptocurrency assets have 30 days to comply with the new rules the SEC released this week. The tightening of the advertising regulations follows a global market downturn that had an impact on numerous industry players.
One illustration is Zipmex, a cryptocurrency exchange with a Thai license that also operates in other countries. Withdrawals were stopped last month by the coin trading platform and its regional parent, Zipmex Pte. A court in Singapore, where authorities are considering stricter regulations for retail cryptocurrency investors, granted the latter three months of protection from creditors in the middle of August.
The SEC recently fined Zipmex 1.92 million baht (over $50,000) for suspending withdrawals. Penalties were imposed on other crypto companies, too. An executive from the Thailand-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub was fined 8.5 million baht (more than $230,000) for alleged insider trading.
