Thailand’s revenue department has decided to drop the 15% tax levied on cryptocurrency. This is a piece of positive news for the progressing cryptocurrency industry. This decision to do away with imposing taxes on the profit made by crypto trading comes after strong opposition from traders and crypto supporters of Thailand.
Crypto would, however, continue to be subjected to a certain amount of taxes if not the 15%. The heavy taxation on trading and minting will however be scraped off. According to crypto followers, such a taxation framework could have ended up stifling the growth of crypto development in the nation.
Thailand witnessed tremendous growth in the popularity of cryptocurrency, especially among the younger population. The news of removing 15% taxes on mining and trading would now attract crypto investors back into the space.
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The Cryptocurrency Regulatory Efforts By Thailand Government
Thailand’s Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledged the enormous potential of the cryptocurrency industry along with recognizing the risks of the same and has worked on a regulatory framework to safeguard users. Lawmakers of the country have even banned certain meme coins and NFTs as a regulatory move.
Although Thailand intends to ensure protection and safeguard crypto investors, there’s quite a bit of vagueness surrounding the same. It wasn’t made clear if the taxes would be imposed on annual filings or at the source itself.
Now that the Thai lawmakers have decided to remove this taxation substructure altogether, it has shed light on what crypto investors could expect.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand added to this and said that encouraging cryptocurrency trading could, in fact, boost the country’s economy especially after the pandemic struck.
Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of TAT stated that people who have become wealthy from holding digital currencies” may be looking to spend their holdings. He added that “if they can use their currencies here without having to exchange it, or be faced with government taxes, then it would create convenience for them.”
The Thai Central Bank also mentioned that it is still meaning to formulate new measures which would regulate crypto activities on both an individual and organizational level. A consultation paper shall be released which shall speak of a consensus and comprise a commentary on the limitations of cryptocurrency activities.
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Anti-Money Laundering and Safeguarding Investors
Thailand’s cryptocurrency regulation agenda on cryptocurrency will encircle the major concerns related to money laundering, taxation, and investor protection. Overall, it is quite evident that cryptocurrency will not be clamped down and will be allowed to function within a jurisdiction.
Digital assets have grown exponentially owing to the introduction of De-Fi and NFTs in the market.
“The issuance of digital tokens must be authorized and overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the issuer is required to disclose information and offer the coins through the token portals licensed under the Digital Asset Decree,” quoted the Thai SEC
A week ago, however, Thailand’s SEC had decided to issue certain guidelines concerning the restriction of cryptocurrency payments.
Thailand was quite conservative regarding its stance on cryptocurrency, it had put a lid on the trading platform Binance in the past. It is quite refreshing to see the Thai government warm up to crypto in order to bolster the growth of this asset class.