Kubix Digital Asset (Kubix), a subsidiary of Kasikornbank (KBank), started operations yesterday after receiving an initial coin offering (ICO) portal licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.
The company becomes the fifth ICO portal provider to be licensed by the regulator. The other four are Longroot (Thailand), T-Box (Thailand), Xspring Digital and BiTherd.
According to a source from the SEC who requested anonymity, two companies are awaiting licensing approval from the regulator: Token X, a subsidiary of Siam Commercial Bank Group (SCBx), and Fraction (Thailand).
Each has been approved for the initial step, but await further inspection for other details in the process to confirm the readiness of their working systems, said the source.
After receiving the licence on Wednesday, Ruangrote Poonpol, chairman of Kasikorn Business-Technology Group and chairman of the board of Kubix, posted a message on his Facebook page "Krating Poonpol" to congratulate and thank the team "for moving heaven and earth to success".
According to Mr Ruangrote, Kubix's licence marks a big step in KBank's venture into the digital industry, making it the first bank in Thailand to receive such a licence.
As the global economy evolves towards digitalisation, digital assets is a growing trend the traditional financial world cannot overlook, he said.
In Thailand, two leading commercial banks -- SCBx and KBank -- have started forging a path into the digital asset industry.
SCBx subsidiary SCB Securities announced its investment in Bitkub Digital Asset Exchange with a value of 17.8 billion baht on Nov 2, 2021. The deal is expected to be finalised in March.
KBank also invested in Cryptomind Group Holdings, a pioneer in digital asset financial services and investment product development in Thailand, through its subsidiary Beacon Venture Capital.
In the digital asset industry, an ICO portal serves as a provider of a digital token offering system and a consultant in the process of offering digital tokens to the public.
The ICO portal functions similar to a financial adviser for an initial public offering, but instead of stocks, it assists issuers in the offering of digital tokens.
The ICO portal provider is also responsible for screening the qualifications of the ICO project and the project issuers. For example, it must ensure the issuer's company was established under Thai law and has registered capital of at least 5 million baht.
The ICO portal also assists in evaluating the issuer's business plan and checking the plan's accuracy.