Bitcoin News

Story: Thailand’s New Travel Rule Forces Crypto Operators to Verify Self-Custodial Wallets

By Steven Anderson

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What the Rules Actually Require. The SEC wants records kept for five years, accessible to regulators on demand.

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Thailand Joins an 83% Global Majority. Thailand's move isn't happening in a vacuum. The Financial Action Task Force reported that 83% of…

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Broader Crypto Ambitions Beyond Compliance. The Travel Rule is only part of what Thailand's SEC is working on.

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Thailand is moving fast on crypto compliance. The country's Securities and Exchange Commission has locked in a new Travel Rule requiring digital asset operators to verify…

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It's a big shift. Under the new rules, operators can't just track transfers between centralized exchanges anymore.

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The SEC wants records kept for five years, accessible to regulators on demand. The goal is straightforward: cut down on money laundering and terrorist financing risks tied to…

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The regulations cover both self-custodial wallet transactions and those going through centralized exchanges. So pretty much every major transaction type is in scope.

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The SEC didn't just drop this overnight. Two rounds of public consultations happened earlier this year.

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Thailand's move isn't happening in a vacuum. The Financial Action Task Force reported that 83% of surveyed jurisdictions had already put Travel Rule legislation in place as of…

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Crypto's cross-border nature has made Travel Rule compliance messy everywhere. Matching wallet ownership data across jurisdictions, coordinating between operators on different…

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More context: Belgium Targets Offshore Piracy with Seizure of Crypto Wallets in Major Operation

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And the pressure isn't easing. Regulators worldwide have made it clear that the "we can't trace it" defense won't fly anymore. Wallet verification is becoming table stakes.

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The Travel Rule is only part of what Thailand's SEC is working on. The regulator has also floated the idea of letting intermediaries give retail investors access to certain…

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On top of that, draft rules for Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds are moving forward. The SEC is also gathering feedback on criteria for foreign digital asset custodians,…

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So it's not just a crackdown. Thailand seems to want a fuller, more regulated crypto market — one that can attract institutional-grade products while keeping tighter tabs on…

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