Thailand's Securities Regulator Eyes Qualifications for New Crypto Investors

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a public hearing next month to gauge what qualifications should be imposed on retail investors opening new cryptocurrency trading accounts.

According to a report by the Bangkok Post on Sunday, the regulator is concerned about investor safety amid the recent meteoric rise in cryptocurrency prices and the resulting flood of new accounts on local exchanges.

The regulator aims to determine if new crypto investors have enough experience and are in a financial position to deal with the risks of cryptocurrency trading and volatile price swings.

"We should set some screening criteria such as age, trading experience and level of revenue or wealth to limit risks," said the SEC's secretary-general, Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, adding that such measures are already in place for high-yield bonds, which are only available to certain investor types.

The SEC reported 124,000 new accounts in the first week of February, bringing the total number of accounts to 594,000 as of Feb. 8, according to the Bangkok Post's report.

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The hearing comes after the country's finance minister, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, asked the SEC to keep tabs on local cryptocurrency exchanges in a bid to protect newcomers.

CoinDesk attempted to contact the SEC to ask for more details on the hearing, but had not received a response by press time.