In the first two weeks of March 2026, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued three regulatory announcements that signal a deliberate and coordinated effort to deepen oversight of digital assets and relevant service providers.
The updates touch on corporate governance, investor classification, and anti-money laundering compliance, three areas that have each been the subject of increased regulatory scrutiny in recent years. While each announcement addresses distinct regulatory areas, they collectively aim to ensure that licensed digital asset businesses in Thailand operate with the same level of transparency, accountability, and systemic safeguarding expected of mainstream financial market participants.
Revised Major Shareholder Criteria
The most significant of the three updates is the SEC’s revision of the criteria governing major shareholders of licensed digital asset business operators, published under SEC News No. 52/2026 and expected to take effect on 4 March 2026.
Previously, the definition of a major shareholder was tied primarily to formal shareholding thresholds, where a person holding shares exceeding 10% of voting rights would trigger approval requirements. This approach, however, was susceptible to circumvention through nominee arrangements or indirect holding structures that replicated control without crossing the threshold on paper.
Under the revised criteria, a major shareholder now includes not only those who directly or indirectly hold more than 10% of voting rights, but also those who exercise control over the business or its shares as prescribed by the SEC. Indicators of controlling power have been expressly expanded to include spouses and cohabiting partners, minor children, and persons with coordinated voting arrangements or a demonstrable shared intent to direct the operator’s governance.
A pro rata method for calculating indirect shareholding has also been introduced, closing gaps that could previously obscure beneficial ownership across layered structures.
Regulators are now empowered to look through holding arrangements and assess whether any person, regardless of how their interest is structured, exercises meaningful influence over a licensed operator.
Operators have 180 days from 4 March 2026 to review their ownership structures, identify newly qualifying major shareholders, and submit approval applications for those not previously approved.
Revised Institutional Investor Definitions
A parallel development, published as SEC News No. 51/2026 and effective from 1 March 2026, expands the definitions of institutional investors and eligible investment capital, formally integrating digital asset participants into Thailand’s broader capital market framework.
The definition of institutional investors has been extended to include digital asset business operators, investment planners, and investment consultants. The definition of investment capital, used to assess financial standing for suitability purposes, now encompasses direct and indirect investments in securities, derivatives, investment tokens, and government tokens (G-tokens).
The institutional investor classification matters because it determines how licensed securities and derivatives intermediaries must treat a counterparty. Institutional investors are typically subject to lighter-touch suitability requirements and can access a broader range of products and services.
The inclusion of digital asset business operators in this category signals that the SEC regards them as financially sophisticated participants whose engagement with capital market services should be facilitated.
The expansion of investment capital is equally practical. Many institutional participants in Thailand’s capital markets now hold significant portions of their balance sheets in digital instruments. Excluding those assets would have produced an inaccurate picture of an investor’s actual financial position.
Securities and derivatives intermediaries should review how digital asset business operators are now categorised in their internal procedures. For digital asset operators, the change may open access to a wider range of institutional products and services.
The Proposed Travel Rule
The third announcement, SEC News No. 54/2026 published on 10 March 2026, addresses anti-money laundering compliance through a consultation paper proposing formal Travel Rule requirements for digital asset transfers conducted by licensed operators in Thailand.
The Travel Rule, derived from Recommendation 16 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), requires that identifying information about the originator and beneficiary of a digital asset transfer accompany the transaction as it moves between virtual asset service providers. It is one of the primary mechanisms through which financial intelligence authorities seek to preserve the traceability of funds in the digital asset environment, and its implementation has become a de facto condition for regulatory credibility in most major jurisdictions.
Thailand’s SEC has been working with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) on this initiative following a January 2026 resolution of the Subcommittee on Financial Data Connectivity for Enhancing the Monitoring of Suspicious Financial Transactions.
The proposed framework sets out three core obligations:
- Operators must establish internal policies and procedures for collecting and transmitting information accompanying digital asset transfers, including transaction data, customer details, and counterparty information, and must retain that information for a minimum of five years;
- The ordering operator on a transfer must transmit the full originator and beneficiary data to the receiving operator at the time of the transfer; and
- Operators must implement prescribed risk management measures applicable to both the sending and receiving sides of digital asset transfers.
The initiative aims to be a preventive approach, with the aim of strengthening supervisory measures for intermediaries before harm occurs and enhancing the effectiveness of asset tracking and recovery in technology-related crime investigations.
The update is currently undergoing consultation.
What This Means for Digital Asset Operators in Thailand
The most immediate obligations fall on operators with non-standard ownership structures, who must complete their shareholder review within the 180-day window.
Securities intermediaries and digital asset operators working across both markets should also ensure that their internal procedures reflect the revised institutional investor definitions. While regulations around The Travel Rule are still undergoing consultation, it would still be prudent for operators to consider Travel Rule consultation before it takes effect, since the resulting requirements will be operationally significant once in force.
For legal advice on digital asset regulation, licensing, or compliance in Thailand, please contact our Technology, Crypto, and Web3 team at [email protected]. This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
