Thailand SEC Proposes Retail Access to Overseas Crypto Derivatives
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand has proposed allowing intermediaries to facilitate retail access to certain digital asset derivatives traded overseas. The proposal aims to bring crypto-linked products into the regulated capital markets of Thailand.
Under the proposal, eligible products would need to resemble those traded in Thailand, including their underlying assets, maturity, leverage, and settlement methods. They must also trade on an exchange that uses a central counterparty for clearing and is overseen by a regulator belonging to specified international regulatory or exchange groups.
The SEC has been working towards this goal since formally designating cryptocurrencies and digital tokens as permissible derivatives underlyings in a notification dated March 5. The regulator is discussing potential contract specifications with the Thailand Futures Exchange.
Crypto derivatives that do not meet the proposed conditions could only be offered to institutional investors, according to the SEC. This is because institutions are better equipped to assess and manage complex and high-risk products.