Thailand delays digital money handout, critics call for probe

October 23, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Thailand’s government has delayed the launch of a planned digital money program aimed at stimulating its economy, while opposition leaders call for a probe of the scheme.

Thailand’s planned digital wallet scheme, which intends to payout 10,000 baht (~$274) to citizens over 16 years old, has been delayed, while critics call for a probe from the country’s electoral commission.

As originally reported by the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s deputy finance minister, Julapun Amornvivat, announced that the planned February 2024 launch of a new digital wallet has been delayed to buy more time for the development of the system.

The Thai government hopes to use the wallet to issue 10,000 baht to eligible citizens in a bid to stimulate the local economy.

A statement from Amornvivat highlighted that the government wants more time to ensure the security of the system underpinning the digital grant wallet while reaffirming that its launch will still take place in the first quarter of 2024.

According to reports from the country, the sub-committee responsible for the program is still deliberating over the source of the funds for the scheme. The Pheu Thai Party’s digital wallet scheme is estimated to cost 548 billion baht ($15 billion).

The government previously projected the initiative to stimulate economic growth by 5% next year, while Amornvivat also suggested that tax revenue from increased economic activity would help fund part of the cost of the program.

Former Thai Senator Rosana Tositrakul is a vocal skeptic of the project and has since requested the election commission probe the legality of the proposed scheme.

With the Thai government considering using its national budget to fund the digital handout, questions over a lack of funding and the potential of raising debt to pay for the initiative have led to Tositrakul questioning the legality of the scheme.

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mBridge CBDC project preparing for new members, launch of minimum viable product

September 25, 2023 Coin Telegraph

BIS

The project now includes central and commercial banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UAE. Future new members were not identified.

Project mBridge may soon see significant expansion, according to Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) CEO Eddie Yue. He outlined the plans for the central bank digital currency (CBDC) project in a speech in Shanghai.

Yue said tests have shown mBridge to provide faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments. The project was initiated in 2021 with the participation of the HKMA, and the central banks of China, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, as well as commercial banks from each of those jurisdictions and the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BISIH).

Now mBridge will expand and be commercialized. Yue said:

“We are expecting to welcome more fellow central banks to join this open platform. And very soon we will launch what we call a minimum viable product, with the aim of paving the way for the gradual commercialisation of mBridge.”

Central banking officials connected with the project have said previously that a central bank does not have to have its own CBDC to participate in it. All of the current participants have CBDCs at the stage of pilot projects. The only countries that have launched CBDCs are the Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria, according to the website cbdctracker.org.

mBridge’s progress has already been noticed in the United States Congress. Ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters expressed her concern during the markup of Representative Tom Emmer’s CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act on Sept. 20 that the project could be leveraged to evade economic sanctions. The key to effective sanctions evasion by CBDCs is adoption, experts say.

*Commercial banks participating in Project mBridge. Source: BISIH*

mBridge is the only international CBDC project China has taken part in. Its digital yuan is by far the world’s largest CBDC pilot, and the People’s Bank of China has made several deals with international companies and commercial banks to further the adoption of the digital yuan. Thus, BNP Paribas China and DBS Bank China have made integrations with the digital yuan available to their corporate clients in 2023.

Eddie Yue Wai-man, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, was appointed to a key post at the Bank for International Settlements, a top international financial institution backed by most of the world’s central bank https://t.co/ZY7a78gFBL
— Caixin Global (@caixin) September 14, 2023

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Thailand to start taxing overseas income next year, including from crypto

September 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Any person who resides in Thailand for up to 180 days, would be subject to personal income tax on foreign assets, including crypto.

Thailand’s Revenue Department is planning to impose personal income tax on the foreign revenues, including those made from crypto trading, of any person who resides in Thailand for more than 180 days.

According to the Sept 19 report from the Bangkok Post, the new rule will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, with the first tax forms, including overseas income to be delivered in 2025.

Under the previous regulation, only the foreign income, remitted to Thailand in the year of earning, was taxed. The new rule closes this loophole and will oblige an individual to declare any income, earned overseas, even if it wasn't going to be used in the local economy. A Finance Ministry official explained this logic to journalists:

“The principle of tax is that you must pay tax on income you earn from abroad no matter how you earn it and regardless of the tax year in which the money is earned”.

According to other Bangkok Post sources, the policy specifically targets residents trading in foreign stock markets through foreign brokerages, cryptocurrency traders, and Thais with offshore accounts.

In July, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obliged digital asset service providers to offer adequate warnings highlighting risks associated with cryptocurrency trading. It has also prohibited any forms of crypto lending services.

However, the trend for tight scrutiny over the crypto industry might change with the recent election of the new prime minister. Real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin, elected to lead the Thai parliament, participated in a $225 million raise for a crypto-friendly investment management firm XSpring Capital and even issued its own token through XSpring in 2022.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

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Second-largest Thai bank creates $100-million AI fund

September 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Second-largest Thai bank creates 0-million AI fund

Banks

The fund, named KXVC, will target AI, Web3, and Deep Tech startups with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the press release published on Sept. 13, the fund will possess a $100 million investment budget with Krating Poonpol, a Chairman of KBank Business Technology Group, in charge of the enterprise. In Poonpol’s words:

Kasikornbank, or KBank, one of Thailand’s largest private banks, launched a flagship fund to invest in artificial intelligence (AI). The fund, named KXVC, will target AI, Web3, and Deep Tech startups with a focus on the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

“KXVC will be a stepping stone for global founders to drive their business expansion in APAC with strong synergy with KBank and our partners.”

More precisely, KXVC is going to invest in consumer-focused AI, cybersecurity, AI/ML tools such as deployment platforms, data annotation and model optimization, and problem-specific AI startups. Within Web3, its investments will aim at Web3 infrastructures, nodes validators, RPC providers, middlewares, modularity technologies, privacy, ZKP, wallets, alternative L1/L2s, shared securities, LsdFi and consumerization of NFTs.

The fund plans to invest in over 30 startups and funds globally with geographic focuses in the United States, European Union, Israel, and APAC.

Kbank is not new when it comes to the digital economy. In 2021, it began experimenting with decentralized finance (DeFi) services as part of its business expansion plan. And back in 2018, the bank joined Visa’s blockchain-based B2B solution for cross-border payment transactions.

Kbank is the second-largest bank in Thailand in assets evaluation. By 2023, it was holding 3.6 trillion Thai Bhat, which is roughly $100 billion.

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Thai authorities arrest five in 3,200-victim, $27M crypto scam

September 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Authorities

Victims lost over $27 million worth of Thai bhat after investing in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform.

Authorities in Thailand arrested five foreign nationals linked with a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform that fleeced over $27 million from local investors.

According to an initial report from the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation (CCIB) Bureau arrested four individuals from China and one from Laos for orchestrating a fraudulent investment scheme that duped more than 3,200 locals.

The CCIB began investing the operation after affected investors came forward in late 2022, claiming that they had lost investments made through bchgloballtd.com with the assistance of the United States Homeland Security Investigations and other international law enforcement agencies.

The five accused were arrested and charged for colluding to commit transnational crime, public fraud and money laundering.

The Office of the Attorney General in Thailand moved to prosecute the suspects in August 2022, before the anti-money laundering office confiscated 585 million baht worth of personal property from the accused.

CCIB spokesperson Kissana Phathanacharoen said that investment schemes continue to cause the most financial damage of scams reported in the country. Victims are said to invest life savings into the schemes or take out finance on homes or property.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission issued new requirements in Jan. 2023 for virtual asset service providers in the country aimed at increasing investor protecting and safeguarding user funds held by custody providers.

As a recent Cointelegraph report uncovered, scammers have gone as far as targeting MetaMask users using government-owned website URLs to trick victims and access their crypto wallet holdings.

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Thailand’s next prime minister Srettha Thavisin has crypto history

August 23, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Sansiri, one of the largest real estate firms in Thailand, once had Srettha Thavisin as CEO. The firm is known for backing crypto projects like XSpring.

Thailand’s parliament on Aug. 22 voted for real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin to be the country’s next prime minister. Thavisin is best known as former president and CEO of Sansiri, one of the largest real estate developers in Thailand, which also has some cryptocurrency background.

Thavisin, 60, was the only candidate brought to elections by the Pheu Thai Party, receiving 482 votes out of a possible 747 in Thailand’s parliament.

His victory could potentially have some implications for the cryptocurrency industry in Thailand as his family company, Sansiri, was an active investor in the country’s digital asset industry. Thavisin quit as Sansiri CEO in April 2023 amid speculation that he would be named Thailand’s next PM. He also shed his 4.4% stake in Sansiri at the time.

*Former Sansiri CEO Srettha Thavisin. Source: AP News*

In 2021, Sansiri participated in a $225 million raise for a crypto-friendly investment management firm XSpring Capital. Subsequently, XSpring launched a fully integrated cryptocurrency trading platform in 2022. The firm plans to become a top-three company in the crypto exchange market by 2025.

Apart from backing major crypto projects in Thailand, Thavisin’s Sansiri is also known for issuing and distributing its own tokens through XSpring in 2022. Called “SiriHub Token,” the digital asset is part of a real estate-backed initial coin offering (ICO) which offered a total of 240 million tokens to the general public in 2022.

The Pheu Thai Party — which Thavisin joined in November 2022 — also previously proposed distributing some money to Thai citizens in case it wins the elections. The party specifically promised to give the country’s citizens 10,000 Thai baht ($285) in April 2023 and send the amount using digital currency.

As Thavisin’s government is expected to assume office by the end of September, it remains to be seen whether his crypto-related background would impact Thailand’s crypto policies.

Days ahead of the vote, Thavisin took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to stress that he was participating in the elections because he wanted to “improve the country and the economy.” He added:

“My enemies are poverty and the inequality of the people. My goal is the well-being of all Thai people.”

The news comes a few months after Thailand’s cabinet decided to offer tax breaks for corporate income tax and value-added tax for companies that issue investment tokens. Announcing the initiative in March, deputy government spokesman Rachada Dhnadirek said that the government expects investment token offerings to generate 128 billion Thai baht ($3.7 billion) over the next two years.

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Thailand threatens Facebook over crypto scams and other fraudulent ads

August 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Ads

Thailand’s digital minister said he would seek a court order to shut Facebook in the country unless it takes action on the alleged scams.

Thailand is planning to seek a court-issued shutdown order against Facebook unless it takes steps to deal with alleged investment and crypto scam ads on its platform.

On Aug. 21, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) stated over 200,000 people had been duped by Facebook ads that touted crypto scams, investing in fake businesses and faked government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Popular tactics used by the scammers included crypto investment and trading scams, MDES claimed. Some ads also allegedly used images of celebrities and well-known financial figures along with promises of up to 30% daily returns to lure people into the schemes.

MDES Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said the ministry had been in talks with and sent a letter to the Meta-owned platform over the issue but claimed it's failing to screen advertisers.

*Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn at an Aug. 21 press conference regarding the ministry’s planned court action against Facebook. Source: MDES*

The ministry is currently gathering evidence of the scam ads which it said numbered over 5,300 — at the end of the month, it’s ready to ask a court to shut down Facebook within seven days.

The ministry warned on how such scams typically operate saying consumers should be wary of promises of high and guaranteed returns along with ads using images of well-known figures.

Investments that pressure or give incentives to quickly invest with limited offers should also be approached with caution as well as businesses or platforms with no verifiable information.

Cointelegraph contacted Meta but did not immediately receive a response.

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South Korean Shinhan Bank completes stablecoin remittance pilot with Asian partners

July 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The bank used the Hedera network to settle payments in South Korean, Thai and Taiwanese currencies in real-time in its second stablecoin pilot project.

South Korea’s Shinhan Bank has completed its second proof-of-concept using stablecoins for international remittances. Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB TechX unit and an unnamed Taiwanese financial institution also participated in the project.

The project carried out real-time settlement and foreign exchange integration with the banks’ national currencies on the Hedera network. The project was compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), opening it up to use by a host of other stablecoins.

Shinhan Bank conducted its first proof-of-concept project in November 2021 in conjunction with South Africa’s Standard Bank, although that bank’s identity was also not immediately disclosed.

Shinhan Bank explained at the time that it minted a pool of South Korean won-backed stablecoins, and the partnering bank minted a stablecoin in its local currency. A user was able to buy Shinhan-minted stablecoins and send them to an account at the partner bank. That bank provided the funds in the locally denominated stablecoin, which the user could then exchange.

Byunghee Kim, head of the blockchain division at Shinhan Bank, said, “We are pleased to have demonstrated how the use of Hedera’s EVM-compatible technology helps eliminate intermediaries, reduce costs, and speed up the remittance process."

1/ In a continuation of their work on #DLT-enabled cross-border remittances, @ShinhanBankENG - in collaboration with SCB TechX & other financial institutions - has today announced the successful completion of a #stablecoin remittances PoC pilot on #Hedera.https://t.co/OUAxOfU2U4
— Hedera (@hedera) July 18, 2023

Remittances are noncommercial cross-border payments. They are typically slow, expensive and hard to track. An International Monetary Fund official stated earlier this year that remittance providers collect $45 billion in fees annually.

The use of stablecoins provides an alternative to central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Web3 remittance solutions. There are numerous CBDC cross-border payment projects, including some designed specifically for remittances, but few CBDCs have been launched, so that technology remains tentative. Meanwhile, stablecoin-based remittance solutions are becoming more common, especially in Latin America.

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