The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public about investing in nine digital tokens and initial coin offerings (ICOs) that have not been authorised by the market regulator.
An SEC investigation found that there have been posts on social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube, publicly promoting investment in digital assets and ICO offerings.
The nine digital tokens and ICOs have been identified as Every Coin, Orientum Coin (ORT Coin), OneCoin and OFC Coin, Tripxchain Coin (TXC Coin), TUC Coin, G2S Expert ICO, Singhcom Enterprise ICO, Adventure hostel Bangkok ICO and Kidstocurrency ICO.
These digital assets have not applied for the SEC's approval, and individuals who have been persuaded to invest in them should be cautious because there is a high investment risk, said the securities watchdog.
These digital tokens and ICOs have not met the necessary qualifications and have not had smart contracts assessed by ICO portals, which are then approved by the market regulator.
Information disclosure for investment decision-making is also inadequate, while these digital assets might not have sufficient liquidity to trade and cannot be converted into cash, the SEC said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has said OneCoin and businesses related to OneCoin are not under supervision, while it has found that there have been warnings about investing in OneCoin from online media in many countries, according to the SEC.
There are opportunists who persuade individuals to invest in digital assets by assuring investment returns generated from digital tokens that are structured like pyramid schemes, the SEC said.
These schemes encourage individuals to seek more partners in the investment network, but there are no details available on business plans, product, platform or credible management team, the regulator said.
The six businesses seeking licences to operate as digital asset exchanges are Bitcoin Co (bx.in.th), Bitkub Online Co Ltd (bitkub.com), Cash2Coins Co Ltd (cash2coins.com), Satang Corporation Co Ltd (tdax.com), Coin Asset Co Ltd (coinasset.co.th) and Southeast Asia Digital Exchange Co Ltd (seadex.io).
The two businesses seeking licences to operate as digital asset dealers are Coins TH Co (coins.co.th) and Digital Coin Co Ltd (thaiwm.com).
As the SEC is still assessing their applications, these businesses are allowed to operate because they submitted their requests within 90 days after the royal decree on digital asset businesses took effect on May 14.
The new legislation was enacted to regulate digital asset offerings and businesses undertaking digital asset-related activities. Pursuant to the royal decree, digital assets cover cryptocurrencies, digital tokens and any other electronic data units, as specified by the SEC.