Thai police attack five crypto companies and arrest 11 in crackdown

Thai police attacked five licensed offices Cryptocurrency The company has arrested 11 employees as part of a broader crackdown on illegal crypto-related activities in Thailand.

Officers of the Economic Crime Repression Division (ECD) had received warrants searching the facilities of five companies operating in the states of Nahon Pathom, Samut Sakon and Bangkok.

The ECD commander said the 11 arrested individuals included a mix of executives and few senior employees, and police seized six computers and other evidence.

An investigation by the ECD determined that the arrested individuals were operating illegally with an annual turnover of approximately 1 billion baht ($29.3 million).

The attacked companies are said to have acted as intermediaries for local investors who wish to purchase investment products sold overseas.

Thailand strictly regulates its foreign exchange-based e-money business, and the Payment Systems Act of 2017 requires that all such companies register and protect their licenses.

However, according to the ECD, the failure to register a company created a money laundering risk, but it damaged the economy by allowing capital flight.

Police have accused 11 suspects of providing unauthorized e-money services, but this is not the first time the authorities have cracked down on illegal cryptographic activities this year.

Thai Cryptocurrency

In January, Thailand’s Cybercrime Investigation Agency proposed a ban on polymeric bets, claiming that the crypto-based forecast market would create “economic and social risks.”

Last month, Thai and Chinese police frozen around $2.5 million worth of cryptocurrency after arresting two Chinese people who were later charged with fraud and human trafficking.

And only today, Binance Th reported that Thailand has received over 1,000 data requests from police in the past three years, seeing one of the biggest global increases in investment complaints and damages.

Such actions may lead to suspicions that Thailand is cracking down on crypto, but Andy Liang, a Singapore-based intergovernmental blockchain advisor, argues Thai authorities are primarily focused on bad actors.

“The Cybercrime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) is working with people like Binance To Bust Pig Butchering Scams. Decryption.

Lian pointed out that while a particular operation named Trust No nowand led to many famous arrests and a substantial amount of seizing, subsequent operations did the same thing last year.

“Then there’s the illegal mining OPS attacks in places like Chachoengsao and Surat Thani where people caught people stealing electricity to power the rig,” added Lian. “That’s another indication that they’re keeping an eye on shady code activities.”

Liang reiterated that Thai police are far more commonly at zero than fraudsters, terrors, thieves and crypto spaces, but platforms that do not register with Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission also have a zero tolerance policy.

“The SEC was pushing to block unlicensed exchanges as well, like last year’s BYBit, but that’s more about regulating space than shutting down that,” he explained.

Thailand and the Cryptocurrency

However, in general, Thailand’s cryptocurrency industry is growing healthy. Southeast Asian nation ranked 16th in the 2024 Global Crypto-Up Index, but saw the cryptocurrency value of over $50 billion received between July 2023 and July 2024.

Thailand’s SEC is also busy updating rules surrounding mutual and private-funded cryptocurrency investments to attract more legitimate investments in the space.

“And also, with the SEC Now The Sec Now The Eyeballing Spot Bitcoin ETF and Stablecoins, it appears they are trying to find a way to manage it rather than kill it,” says Lian.

Such a move means that Thailand is somewhere in the middle of the Southeast Asian jurisdiction when it comes to crypto regulations that it is not as liberal as Singapore and “not a complete blockade like China.”