Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved risk-management rules for digital asset transfers and receipts that will take effect on February 27, 2027. The SEC said the requirements, known as the Travel Rule for Digital Assets, are intended to give operators sufficient information to assess and manage money-laundering risks and help prevent digital asset services from being used for money laundering and technology-enabled crimes.

The SEC developed the requirements jointly with Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO). They will serve as interim rules for digital asset operators while AMLO prepares regulations under anti-money-laundering legislation.

Requirements for operators

Under the rules, digital asset operators must develop policies and operating procedures to manage risks associated with transfers and receipts of digital assets.

Operators must collect information about customers and their counterparties in such transactions and conduct due diligence on counterparties. They must also verify the credentials of the counterparty’s digital asset operator or digital asset service provider.

If an intermediary operator is used to route a transfer, its credentials must also be verified. Operators must verify the ownership or control of non-custodial wallets when transferring assets to those addresses or receiving assets from them.

An operator initiating a transfer must provide the counterparty VASP with information about the originator and beneficiary alongside the digital asset transfer instruction.

Operators must retain the information accompanying each transaction for at least five years. The data must be stored in a format that allows the supervisory authority to retrieve or verify it promptly.

Implementation and regulatory goals

Before the requirements take effect, digital asset operators must prepare systems to transmit and receive data and monitor transactions.

SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon said the regulator aims to prevent digital asset operators from being used as channels for money laundering and technology-enabled crime. She said implementation of the Travel Rule should strengthen efforts to combat technology-enabled crime and reduce the risk that operators are used for money laundering and terrorist financing.

The SEC also expects the requirements to reinforce anti-money-laundering measures in line with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, increase trust in Thailand’s digital asset ecosystem and support its integration with global markets.

Source: Incrypted