Bangkok, 19 December 2018 - SEC is conducting a public hearing on relaxation of the regulations on digital token offering to lessen obstacles of issuers who need fund raising via private placement, while a mechanism to protect investors is appropriate.
The Royal Decree on Digital Asset Businesses,
B.E. 2018 stipulates that issuing and offering digital tokens must be approved
by SEC and digital tokens must be offered through digital token portals for
every case even though it will be offered via private placement. For example, the normal
regulations will be obstacles in the process of pre-ICO and private sale.
Therefore, SEC
intends to relax some of its regulations for offers via private placement to
related parties or investors who can look after themselves. The offers will be
permitted as public offerings, with an exemption of duties for a filing and a
prospectus and lessen a duty for digital token portals.
Given high
risks and uncertainties of a project during pre-ICO and private sale, and
limited information disclosure to investors, SEC will relax the regulations for
digital token offering with limited number of investors, limited fund-raising
amount or limited type of investors. Such offer must be made to: (1) no more
than 50 founders or parties related to a project in 12 months; (2) any persons
in a combined amount of 20 million baht in 12 months; or (3) institutional
investors, venture capital enterprises, private entity funds or ultra-high net
worth investors.
In addition,
in order to prevent advantages taken against other investors during the public
ICO which opens for the general public to invest, SEC will determine to
distribute digital tokens to all groups of investors simultaneously after the
public ICO ends. Bonus or discounted digital tokens will be locked up for six
months from the first day of digital token distribution.
SEC Deputy
Secretary-General Tipsuda Thavaramara said : “the proposed revision is an
attempt to find a balance to supervise and reduce obstacles in practices from
the regulations, with regard to risk management and investors’ protection. The
proposed regulatory revision may not be perfect yet, but it’s the start for
businesses to move forward. SEC is willing to learn together with related
parties to improve the supervision.”
SEC disseminates the public hearing document on
this issue at SEC website: www.sec.or.th/hearing.
Any related parties and interested persons are welcome to make comments at the website
until 13 December 2018.
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Remark: Public Hearing Document -https://capital.sec.or.th/webapp/phs/upload/phs1545109173hearing_57_2561.pdf