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Thailand SEC Communication On Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)

Transcript of the above video:

In this video today as the title suggests, we're going to be discussing initial coin offerings in Thailand. There's a prior video on this channel discussing that and there's some updated information that we need to sort of convey I think; interesting information.

There was a recent announcement, communiqué, whatever you want to call it from Thailand's SEC, that's the Security Exchange Commission here in Thailand on this specific issue. This was released 18th February, 2018. This is a translation. We've done this translation, it should not be taken as a full and total and completely encapsulating communication of all the information contained in the announcement and it should not be used dispositively without the assistance of legal counsel, legal professionals here in the Kingdom to go ahead and move forward with anyone’s specific plans with respect to initial coin offerings or ICOs here in Thailand. But that being said I think it's enlightening and it's useful for information purposes.  So translating” SEC digital assets investment warning: Mr. Rapee Sucharitkul, Secretary General Securities and Exchange Commission Thailand, SEC, the acronym, stated that according to the public attention on the fundraising by ICO and many people have been persuaded to invest in ICO and cryptocurrency systems. With regard to this, SEC have been warning and providing critical information to people who are interested in such investment to provide a good grasp of essential knowledge and understanding of investment is required in the digital asset investment sort of ecosystem as there is a multi-risk factor involved in this kind of investment. Lacking of actual comprehension in this field may easily cause damages to prospective investors. Furthermore some opportunities may take this opportunity to create a trend by introducing the use of brand new technologies which have never been applied before as a selling point also claiming that the technologies can be adapted to any projects even without a business plan and or using technology matters in order to scam people. It is significant for people who have been invited to invest or are thinking of investing in digital assets to understand related essential information in terms of assets, business plan, investor rights, and ICO token structure and obtain this information from the perspective investment provider including risk evaluation and assessment before investing as well as  information concerning the risks caused by the service provider due to this kind of business and ensure it is not, that the risk is controllable and no applicable cyber safety standards  and related measures have not yet been stipulated. So basically what they're saying in this last part, is we had a little bit of a problem cutting through the translation, is basically,  try as much as one can to ensure the business plan, the type of business, that all due risks that under control and try to ascertain whether rather essential cyber safety standards and related measures have been implemented.  At present the control measures for ICO have not yet been regulated so that the investors would not have any protection under these schemes. It should be noted that the fundraising project is now just an idea which may not be successful or succeed but unlike the disclosed information given in the first place, the information in the ICO White Paper may be deemed to be an oral contract, possibly. The feasible control policy which is now being considered by the government for the purpose of granting the fundraising and transaction to be legalized, disclosing information for transparency, specifying screening digital asset personnel and standard control-related Middle Men. Essentially it's in process, the regulatory structure. However all investors should be aware that the control measure may reduce some part of risk, for example things like fraud or Ponzi scheme prevention but there are other existing risks such as business operation risks, is it digital asset price fluctuations, along with cyber-attacks on digital asset systems. The key point that should be that should be taken away from this is that when damage occurs there's no way to claim such damage from any organization so the investor should avoid investing in digital assets if the investors do not yet truly understand the information pertaining to the investment concerned. Eventually the investors should bear in mind that the digital assets may not be suitable for everyone.

Again this is a translation it's not the greatest translation in my opinion because quite frankly there's a lot to cut through with respect to this. We have filtered this through a number of different legal translators and try to put as much nuance into it as we can but that being said, this is a significantly detailed issue. The thing to take away from this video is essentially the Thailand SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, has yet to promulgate a regulatory structure. It's possible to see ICOs coming about in the future I guess but that being said, they are warning investors that there’s the possibility of scams involved with these undertakings and those interested in getting involved in this ecosystem should be very aware of how the, of how this business, how it operates, basically the dynamics of the underlying, the undertaking of the underlying ICO itself before getting involved in something that could result in a significant loss of funds.