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Thailand is shifting focus to a more mature institutional-focused crypto market, according to the chief executive of Binance Thailand.
Thailand’s digital assets market is undergoing a transition from retail to institutional as the country aims to become Southeast Asia’s fintech hub, the CEO of Binance Thailand said.
A recent regulatory move by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission is a “vital step in the maturation of Thailand’s cryptocurrency landscape,” Binance Thailand CEO Nirun Fuwattananukul wrote in an opinion piece for the Bangkok Post on Oct. 25.
On Oct. 9, the Thai securities regulator proposed rules that would allow institutional-grade mutual and private funds to invest in crypto products such as United States-based spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Institutional demand is driving a significant increase in onchain loans across DeFi protocols.
Lending platforms are seeing a significant increase in loans processed this year. According to Ledn, a firm offering decentralized lending and savings, it registered a $1.65 billion increase compared with the same period last year.
In the third quarter of 2024, the company processed over $437 million in digital asset loans to institutions, an increase of 14% from the previous quarter. This growth is part of a wider trend of more institutions exploring digital asset-backed loans due to tighter monetary policies and intense competition for access to dollar funding.
“We saw a very healthy jump in institutional demand in July, which has remained steady since then,” said John Glover, chief investment officer at Ledn. “Institutional borrowing demand has also been fairly consistent with the overall ETF demand, where there was a similar jump in July.”