Having noticed that some digital asset business operators open trading accounts for minors, on 8 January 2022 the SEC disseminated the circular clarifying the guidelines for providing digital asset business services to minors in accordance with the same standard and the Civil and Commercial Code. Essentially, all digital asset business operators are required to:   

(1)  Consider the information related to investors’ legal capacity in executing legal acts before providing services to prevent legal issues regarding a person’s capacity, which may have an impact on the legal acts between digital asset business operators and investors. This is because minors’ execution of legal acts is subject to several provisions of the governing Civil and Commercial Code. As a result, minors may be exposed to a risk regarding the effectiveness of their legal acts while digital asset business operators may be exposed to a risk regarding the legality of the executed legal acts. For example, Section 21 prescribes that a minor shall obtain a consent from the rightful representative before executing any legal acts and any acts executed by a minor without such consent shall be voidable unless regulated otherwise, etc.;   

(2)  Conduct a Know-Your-Client (KYC) due diligence to verify the identity of the investor or the ultimate beneficiary, proceed in accordance with (1) before approving an account opening to ensure that the client is legally capable for executing legal acts with digital asset business operators, and review the KYC to ensure that the client’s information is updated and accurate when it appears that the client’s information is inaccurate or misleading.

In addition, before providing services, digital asset business operators are required to provide knowledge to clients so that they understand the risks associated with digital assets.   

The SEC recommends that anyone interested in trading digital assets study information and all associated risks carefully and make sure that they are capable of accepting the price volatility risk before allocating an appropriate amount of investment money to digital assets, which are exposed to high risks due to price volatility. Besides, certain cryptocurrencies may lack support from fundamental factors.  

Persons interested in digital asset investment can study more information from the Crypto Study in One Click Learning Center and the Crypto 101 online fundamental course at www.smarttoinvest.com. In addition, the licensed digital asset business operators check list is available at the Digital Asset Section on www.sec.or.th or via SEC Check First application. To submit tips or report suspicious acts, please contact SEC Public Service Center at Hotline 1207 or via SEC Facebook Page or SEC Live Chat at the SEC website. 

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