The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is planning to launch a digital asset exchange this year and it will also enable investors to trade with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In a Bloomberg interview on Sunday, SET President Peetathawatchai said that the SET plans to launch its digital asset trading platform in 2022, with new exposure options such as investment tokens and utility tokens.
The stock exchange will allow investors to use cryptocurrency but it won’t directly involve crypto. SET will integrate its upcoming digital asset trading platform with cryptocurrency exchanges to convert the crypto to fiat money before investing.
SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai, said:
“Our strength has been always on the investment tools or investment vehicle and we will be looking for a way to connect to a crypto exchange to convert the cryptocurrency to fiat money and investing in our digital assets and traditional assets.”
“That would be our way of doing business on this digital and traditional asset, connecting to the cryptocurrency market.”
SET changes its position on cryptocurrency
The new approach is reversal from its earlier stance on the use of cryptocurrency. In January Last year, the SET announced plans to launch a digital asset exchange, targeting the launch in the second half of 2021. The stock exchange earlier said that its upcoming platform would avoid crypto.
What would be listed on the upcoming digital asset exchange?
Tokens traded on the platform must meet at least one of three criteria, as previously stated.
- First, the token must have an underlying asset that investors can analyse on value.
- Second, it must be a valuable product that supports economic activities.
- Third, the product must have benefits to society and the environment.
Kitti Suthiatthasil, Executive vice-president, SET, last year said why they avoided cryptocurrency: In order to protect investors, the digital asset must meet at least one of the three conditions set by the SET but cryptocurrencies don’t meet any of them.
Another reason why the SET was not interested in cryptocurrencies was because the exchange believed cryptos can easily be used for money laundering. If people are caught laundering money on the SET digital asset trading platform using cryptocurrencies, it could harm the SET’s reputation and overall investor confidence, Mr Kitti said last year.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is the country’s main and only stock exchange. SET is ASEAN’s second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, with $473 billion as of June 2020, but it is also the region’s largest IPO market, with a total fund raised of $17.8 billion from 2015 to 2020. As of June 2020, SET is also ASEAN’s most active stock exchange, with an average daily trading volume of $2.16 billion. There were 596 firms listed on SET as of February 15, 2022, and 184 on the Market for Alternative Investment (mai).
The SET did not immediately respond to AlexaBlockchain’s request for comment. This article will be updated pending new information.
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